What happened when LR5 superintendent resigned, board members say in new court filings
The majority of members of the Lexington-Richland 5 school board have now submitted affidavits denying the central contention in a lawsuit challenging the board’s conduct in the departure of the district’s former superintendent.
Four board members submitted short statements in the case last week denying that any votes were taken behind closed doors on the employment of then-Superintendent Christina Melton. But the affidavit of board chairwoman Jan Hammond gives a new perspective on the events leading up to Melton’s controversial departure last June.
It’s the first time Hammond and other members of the board have spoken publicly about the events leading up to Melton’s surprising public resignation at a June 14 school board meeting. The State newspaper later filed suit over the process by which the school board reached terms with Melton for her to resign one month after she was named the state’s superintendent of the year — including a $226,368 payout — without any public discussion or vote on the agreement.
Hammond says in her statement that she has years of experience as a board member in how South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act applies to board meetings and personnel discussions.
“Over my more than 17 years on the Board, I have attended numerous workshops regarding how FOIA applies to Board meetings, including when it is permissible for the Board to discuss issues in Executive Session, such as matters related to separation of personnel,” Hammond writes.
Hammond offers a different perspective on events leading up to Melton’s departure that what former board member Ed White described in a previous affidavit. White resigned his seat on the school board over what he described as board members’ “hostile” treatment of Melton.
The chairwoman says that in the early months of 2021, “several Trustees voiced concerns to Dr. Melton about what those Trustees considered her lack of responsiveness to their questions and requests for information.”
Meeting in a closed door executive session on Jan. 25, Hammond says the board conducted an “informal mid-year evaluation” of Melton’s job performance. “During that discussion, several Trustees expressed to Dr. Melton their concerns about certain aspects of her performance, in particular her interactions with the Board.”
In his affidavit, White describes a similar meeting in December 2020 as “a rambling, awkward and confusing session where several Board Members complained” about Melton’s “failure to follow instructions of... individual Board Members, not her communications with the board as a whole.”
Hammond said “Dr. Melton sought legal counsel” after a May 10 meeting at which “several Trustees advised Dr. Melton that they had lost confidence in her continued leadership.”
That meeting followed Melton’s decision to postpone the board’s decision to drop a face mask requirement in schools, citing legal concerns, including the possibility of an employee lawsuit if the requirement was dropped at a time when state guidelines still required them.
White describes the meeting as one in which board members were “particularly loud and angry and speaking in a hateful and hostile manner toward Dr. Melton,” and during which at least two board members demanded Melton resign.
On May 24, Hammond said school district attorney Andrea White “advised the board that she had received a letter from Dr. Melton’s counsel regarding Dr. Melton’s employment status.” Andrea White gave the board options “if the Board desired to end the contract” with Melton. Board members also “shared their opinions about Dr. Melton’s leadership” and “discussed the amount of money they would be willing to pay Dr. Melton in the event she decided to resign,” Hammond said.
The chairwoman said no formal vote was taken on Melton’s employment status, but Andrea White said she would “discuss a mutually agreed termination” with the superintendent’s attorney and returned with a settlement agreement on June 14. She said Melton’s attorney had requested board members sign the agreement during the closed door session.
“Trustee Ed White refused to sign the Agreement and stormed out of Executive Session, taking a copy of the Settlement Agreement with him without consent of the board or Ms. White,” Hammond said. “During the subsequent public portion of that meeting, Ed White made a statement in which he disclosed what had been discussed during Executive Session in violation of Board Policy and against the wishes of Dr. Melton. Ed White then walked out of the meeting, handing a typed letter of resignation to the Board secretary as he left.
“Because of Mr. White’s unanticipated and inappropriate outburst during the meeting, the Board then re-entered Executive Session while Ms. White contacted Dr. Melton’s legal counsel, who advised Ms. White that Dr. Melton still desired to resign. Thereafter, the Board vice-chair made a public statement accepting Dr. Melton’s resignation.”
In his affidavit, Ed White said he was unaware of any settlement negotiations with Melton until he was presented with the agreement at the June 14 meeting. He notes Melton’s job status was never discussed publicly and the board did not intend to disclose the agreement, only allowing Melton to announce her resignation after the upcoming graduation ceremonies.
“In the 18 years I served on the board, I do not recall the Board ever signing a document in Executive Session nor do I recall the Board Members signing a contract without a prior vote on the document in public session,” he said.
The remaining board members subsequently voted to approve the settlement agreement on Aug. 9, and also adopted an open meeting policy for meetings between the board officers and superintendent, which also was an issue raised in The State’s lawsuit. Previously, the district had said that the board officers meetings were not subject to the open meetings requirements of state law.
White also had requested that the board officers meetings be open. He later said his concern was that Hammond, board vice chair Ken Loveless and board secretary Nikki Gardner would use the private meetings “to continue to secretly bully, intimidate and further harass the Superintendent.”
In her affidavit, Hammond is suspicious of White’s motivations.
“During Mr. White’s many years on the board, Mr. White had never questioned that practice, leading me to believe his actions in raising the issue following the 2020 election were purely political,” Hammond writes.
The chairwoman also said a comment she subsequently made that “Dr. Melton had the votes to stay” were “solely based on the opinions and thoughts shared by the other Trustees during the May 24th meeting,” and not any informal vote of the board members.
Other board members who submitted affidavits in the lawsuit are Loveless, Gardner, Catherine Huddle and Matt Hogan. Rebecca Blackburn Hines is the only board member at the time who has not written an affidavit, and Tiffani Moore, who was elected in a special election to replace Ed White, was not involved in the discussions around Melton’s resignation.
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