LR5 board members, accounting firm conspired to retaliate against former superintendent: lawsuit

Three Lexington-Richland 5 school board members conspired with an accounting firm to retaliate against former district Superintendent Stephen Hefner because he filed a complaint with the district’s accrediting agency, Hefner alleges in a new court filing.

The three board members “inflicted their defamatory, politically-motivated agenda against Dr. Hefner, and did so in their official and personal capacities, all at the expense of the taxpayer,” the filing in Lexington County Common Pleas Court says.

The allegations were made in an updated countersuit Hefner filed on Feb. 10. Hefner filed his original countersuit in January 2022 in response to a lawsuit filed against him by the school board. The board has since dropped its suit.

Hefner, who was the school district’s superintendent from 2011 to 2018, says the board retaliated against him for “exercising his right to free speech” when he filed the complaint with the district’s accrediting agency, Cognia, according to the updated countersuit. Hefner’s complaint to Cognia questioned the terms of the district’s hiring of an interim superintendent. Hefner was not working for the district at the time he filed the complaint with Cognia.

Two now-former school board members — Ken Loveless and Jan Hammond — and current board member Catherine Huddle conspired with the Jaramillo Accounting Group to “unlawfully retaliate” against Hefner by publishing a report that included “blatantly untruthful and defamatory information,” the lawsuit says.

The accounting agency’s report, dated Sept. 19, 2022, said that when Hefner was superintendent in 2016, he improperly awarded a “sole source” contract to an architectural firm. A sole source contract can be awarded if a firm is the only company that can provide a service.

Hefner’s lawsuit says he didn’t award the contract. Instead, “the public record clearly indicates and as (the) district was well aware,” the school board unanimously voted in 2016 to approve the architect’s hiring.

Scott Eliason, a partner for JAG, denied all of Hefner’s allegations.

“We don’t have any comment,” Eliason said.

The State reached out to Loveless’ attorney, Desa Ballard, last week. Hammond and Huddle both issued written statements in response to the new lawsuit.

“I am disappointed that Mr. Hefner is attempting to bring me into this lawsuit personally when my actions have always been within the scope and course of my official duties as a school board trustee,” Huddle said in a statement over email.

Said Hammond in a text message: “That accusation is totally and unequivocally false. I have always worked to protect the integrity of School District 5 and do what is best for every student. I have no idea what Dr. Hefner’s accusations are based on.”

The legal saga began in 2021 when the Lexington-Richland 5 school board voted to appoint Akil Ross as interim superintendent. Rather than contract directly with Ross, the school board instead reached an agreement with HeartEd LLC, Ross’ company. That contract called for the company to provide “superintendent services” to the district, while Ross remained an employee of HeartEd rather than of Lexington-Richland 5, according to previous reporting by The State.

The board later hired Ross to become the superintendent.

Hefner and other former district superintendents and former board chairs questioned the arrangement in their August 2021 complaint to Cognia, saying it could jeopardize the district’s accreditation. In November 2021, the school board sued Hefner, saying that his complaint to Cognia was “wrongful, malicious and politically motivated.”

On Dec. 1, 2021, The State reported that Cognia did not plan to take any action on Hefner’s complaint. Later that month, the board voted to continue the lawsuit. “All we are asking for is a formal apology,” Loveless said during that meeting.

The board voted again in August 2022 to continue the lawsuit but reversed itself about a month later and decided to dismiss it. The lawsuit cost taxpayers about $9,000 in legal fees, according to previous reporting by The State.

“Dr. Hefner’s concerns and complaint to a third-party accreditor represent (the) exercise of his free speech rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” Hefner’s amended lawsuit says.

But the board’s retaliation wasn’t restricted to its legal action, Hefner’s lawsuit says. Loveless, Huddle and Hammond conspired “to include defamatory information in a publicly published report.”

The district hired the Jaramillo Accounting Group, or JAG, of New Mexico “to conduct an ‘independent audit’ on behalf of the district,” the lawsuit alleges. The district then published a report from JAG that “included a patently false and defamatory allegation against Dr. Hefner.”

Hefner’s lawsuit alleges that Loveless, in a May 3, 2022, email to both JAG and Huddle, “appears to have personally authored the baseless and defamatory statements regarding Dr. Hefner that ultimately appeared in the JAG report.”

Loveless, Huddle and Hammond “improperly used their positions of power and public resources to unlawfully conspire with JAG during its investigatory audit,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit seeks actual, punitive and other damages. Hefner is being represented by Billy McGee of the Nelson Mullins law firm.

McGee also is representing The State Media Co. in its lawsuit against the Lexington-Richland 5 school district that alleges violations of South Carolina’s open meetings law. The lawsuit was dismissed last year by Judge Alison Lee, who ruled that a hearing had not been scheduled on time. She specifically did not rule on the substance of The State Media Co.’s lawsuit.

The State has appealed Lee’s decision.

Hammond, the school board’s former chair, did not seek reelection in November. Loveless, the former vice chair, lost reelection by 16 votes.

This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 7:00 AM.