After recent violence, Richland 1 school board hires new safety director in split vote

Richland 1 school district has hired a new safety director following recent violence at one of the high schools.

James Edward Brown, the new director of safety security and emergency services, was approved in a 5-2 vote during a Tuesday school board meeting, but the approval was not without controversy.

Newly elected board member Robert Lominack accused the board of “rubber stamping” the pick, while other veteran board members defended the hiring and said standard procedures were followed.

The hiring follows threats and a brawl at A.C. Flora High that ended with a 14-year-old student being arrested for a misdemeanor for allegedly threatening the school.

Brown will fill a position that has been open since late 2019. Current safety director Joe Fraley is retiring, Richland 1 spokeswoman Karen York said.

Though the board clashed on the hiring process, they agreed school safety was a growing issue. Cheryl Harris, who was elected Tuesday as school board chair, called on the district’s attorney to provide more information on the school’s disciplinary policy for threats that disrupt schools.

“We have to be very proactive in the world we live in,” Harris said. “We are very blessed… we have not had a shooting in a school.”

Selection process criticized

Lominack, who unsuccessfully sought to delay the vote on the security position, criticized the selection process. He said the board had received only a detailed resume and no information on Brown or the other candidates’ approach to the job, despite 159 people applying for the job.

“The only thing we’ve been provided was a (detailed resume) that he obviously prepared, that’s it. You’re just asking us to rubber stamp your request. We don’t have any other information,” Lominack said to Richland 1 Chief Human Resources Officer Jeffrey Long.

“I knew more about the Hall of Fame inductees before they were inducted than about this proposed hire and that’s concerning,” Lominack said.

Lominack asked district staff to provide more information from the candidate, interview notes from other candidates considered and numeric scores used to determine the best candidate. Long said Brown had the highest numeric score of all candidates interviewed, but said he wasn’t sure how many people the district interviewed.

Lominack’s push for more information received support from Beatrice King, but no other board members.

“It’s not getting into the weeds,” King said. “This is a really important position and (if) somebody asks me, ‘Why did you vote yes?’ or ‘Why did you vote no?’ I’ll be able to say.”

Veteran board members, including former chair Jamie Devine, rebuffed Lominack’s assertion that the vote was a “rubber stamp.”

“I don’t rubber stamp anything from this district,” Devine said. “Never have. Never will.”

The process Richland 1 used to hire Brown is the same process that has been used to hire countless other administrators in Devine’s 13 years on the school board, he said.

The job of school board members is not to “nitpick” individual administrative choices, but rather to “respect the judgment of the administration” and hold the superintendent accountable if there is an issue, Devine said.

“We have one employee, the superintendent. We have to hold him accountable to make sure that these persons do their jobs on a daily basis, and whatever criteria the board sets, not individuals, to hold the superintendent accountable, that’s what we must do,” Devine said.

Outgoing Board Chair Aaron Bishop noted the security director position had been open for two years and that Brown’s selection “wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction,” he said.

Angela Clyburn, who was elected as board vice-chair Tuesday, said she worried that altering the district’s processes for only one position could create legal issues or create the perception that the board was circumventing policy to shepherd in a favorite candidate.

This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 10:11 PM.