Richland 2 board elects James Manning to be school board chair

James Manning is the new new chair of Richland 2’s school board.

Manning, who has served on the school board since 2010 and previously served as board chair, took over the position after the former board chair, James Shadd, lost his bid for an at-large seat on the board.

The board approved his nomination by a 5-2 vote with members Lindsay Agostini and Monica Elkins voting against his nomination.

Manning will serve as chair until the end of the 2020-2021 school year in June. After that, the board will elect a new chair, vice chair and secretary.

Manning is not the first in his family to be elected in Richland County. His uncle, Jim Manning, served on Richland County Council, where he could be easily recognized by his assortment of bow ties and distinctive haircut.

Teresa Holmes, the board’s vice chair, will continue serving as the board’s second highest ranking member. Before Manning was nominated, Holmes implied she would rather remain as vice chair to avoid having two new members in a position amid a pandemic, she said.

“Consistency is what we need,” Holmes said.

The 10-candidate school board election kept two incumbents — Lindsay Agostini and Monica Elkins — in their seats and brought a new face to the board. That new face is Lashonda McFadden, an administrative assistant at Prisma Health who has four children in the Richland 2 school district.

As board chair, Manning will oversee a district that has more students than Clemson University, $467 million in borrowed money to build new schools and make upgrades and repairs, a $301 million budget, the district’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and working with some faculty outraged at the administration for denying some remote work requests amid the pandemic.

Richland 2 has an enrollment of 28,000 students, making it the largest school district in the S.C. Midlands and the fourth-largest school district in the state (behind Greenville, Charleston and Horry), according to S.C. Department of Education data.

This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 6:21 PM.