Letter: School board chair not up to job

Beaufort County Board of Education chair Patricia Felton-Montgomery needs to step down.

She had been showing signs of not being up to the job, and this week she proved it. Montgomery’s goal seemed to be to ram a $12 million item through the board with zero discussion, planting suspicion that discussion had previously taken place in secret.

Montgomery’s heavy-handed treatment of board member JoAnn Orischak, when Orischak began asking probing questions of the superintendent, was painful and embarrassing to witness. It was also an affront to those seeking transparency from their school board.

Montgomery, despite having zero experience as a school board member, was somehow elected chair of a 22,000-student school district board on her first night in office. She has been overwhelmed from the beginning. She has exhibited a very troubled relationship with the Freedom of Information Act, has difficulty keeping track of motions in floor debate, has backed away from campaign promises, and has shown blatant favoritism toward some members and open hostility to others. Despite vows to improve transparency, she has repeatedly clamped down on debate on important issues before the board.

This is not what’s needed on a board whose majority is still viewed as being in the superintendent’s hip pocket. The voters thought they were getting change and instead got more of the same and worse — and it’s an insult to us all.

Montgomery should resign.

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Letter: School board chair not up to job."