Columbia schools have a new superintendent. What his priorities should be
Columbia schools have a new leader, bringing a new perspective to a district recovering from several years of turmoil.
The Richland 1 school board unanimously chose Todd Anthony Walker to lead the Columbia school district in May, after deciding to part ways with current Superintendent Craig Witherspoon in November.
Walker, with 25 years of experience in Ohio schools, comes from Columbus City Schools in Columbus, where he served as chief curriculum and instruction officer.
His first day is Tuesday, July 1.
Walker will enter a school district that has faced scrutiny from community members and state officials for some time, especially in the last two years.
The State spoke with several community stakeholders. Here are three things they said Walker should prioritize.
Redeeming the district’s financial reputation
In the last three years, the state Education Department has sanctioned the district twice because of its fiscal actions or policies.
Richland 1 was placed on “fiscal watch” in late 2022, the least severe financial warning, after a state-ordered audit revealed faults with the district’s procurement card policy.
A year later, the district’s $31 million effort to build an early learning center in Lower Richland came to a screeching halt amid accusations of mismanagement.
The state Department of Education refused to issue a permit for the center in December 2023 because the building was intended to serve children as young as infants. The age range meant the building could not be considered a school, the Education Department said. The district kept building anyway.
In January 2024, the district announced that it would stop construction. Reporting by The State revealed that it was because of a stop work order issued by Richland County, rather than of the district’s own accord. County officials said the school district had failed to obtain the proper permits before starting construction.
An Education Department official called the project a “massive failure” and the district “downright dishonest,” according to emails obtained by The State last year.
The controversy led to an investigation by the state Inspector General, which condemned the district’s work on the center and its procurement practices. Richland 1 had broken state law and wasted taxpayer money, the Inspector General said. Weeks after the July report, state education Superintendent Ellen Weaver placed Richland 1 on “fiscal caution,” the second most severe level of concern by her department.
The district was required to submit a recovery plan. But the state Education Department rejected the plan and ordered another audit. The audit is ongoing. A spokesman for the state Department of Education did not have a timeline.
In March, the school board — with two new members — decided to terminate the early learning center project, and in April, it voted to demolish the partially-built structure on Caughman Road. To date, at least $7 million has been spent on the center. The district will likely have to pay fees to four contractors. However, those fees have yet to be determined.
Improving district climate and culture
The district has struggled with recruiting and retaining teachers. As South Carolina faced a record-breaking number of teacher vacancies last year, Richland 1 felt it more acutely than others. The district led the state in the number of vacancies, which had quadrupled since 2021 with a turnover rate of 22.5% as of last year.
Richland 1 currently has at least 179 open teaching jobs ahead of the 2025-26 school year and 386 jobs overall. The first day of school is Aug. 11.
The district has been criticized for the way it treats its teachers.
Last year, in hopes of preventing more teacher departures, the school board approved a $2,000 retention bonus — but district officials didn’t tell the teachers. As a result, those bonuses may have been pointless, and school board members have said that the district has missed opportunities to curtail the exodus of educators.
“We have ignored issues at some of our schools that have created some really high turnover, and this has been going on for a number of years,” board Chairman Robert Lominack told The State last summer.
In October 2023, Witherspoon and the district administration came under fire after 11 teachers were abruptly reassigned nine weeks into the school year. Richland 1 officials were adamant that such transfers were “not uncommon,” and were made to maintain ideal student-teacher ratios in each district school. But many district teachers and families were angry. At the time, board member Barbara Weston likened the administration’s decision to treating district teachers like “cattle.”
The reassignments were condemned by several Richland County legislators, though others felt the criticism was unfair.
Encouraging transparency
A perceived lack of transparency has accompanied Richland 1’s recent controversies, as administrators were slow to answer pressing questions about teacher transfers and the early learning center.
“We have a problem with trust and confidence in Richland District 1, whether it’s real or perceived,” state Rep. Beth Bernstein, D-Richland, said in October 2023. “It’s time to lift up the hood.”
The district also had trouble following South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, a law aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability by making government information more accessible.
In the last six years, Richland 1 has been accused in lawsuits with breaking public records laws.
In 2019, a court ruled that Richland 1 had unlawfully conducted public business behind closed doors when the board decided in executive session how to respond to a letter from a parent. In 2022, a lawsuit said the district was not giving the public proper notice of its closed-door meetings and was violating the state Freedom of Information Act. The case was settled in October 2022. In 2024, the district was sued for taking “secret government action” after voting in public on an item discussed in executive session without giving details about what action was being taken. A judge ruled against the district: they did break FOIA law.
While the district is still working through some controversies and awaiting audit results, stakeholders told The State of excitement surrounding Walker’s arrival, who is bound to bring about a new era district with a fresh set of eyes. At a community meet-and-greet May 19, Walker said that if he were chosen as the district’s next leader, he would create a context-specific vision for Richland 1 that included all stakeholders.
“We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” Walker said. “I believe that that rising tide is leadership.”
