New school board member says Lexington-Richland 5 can’t be run by ‘5% who get angry’
The newest member of the Lexington-Richland 5 school board is hoping to heal a district that she says has become badly divided during the COVID-19 pandemic and the district’s response to it.
Tifani Moore told The State on Wednesday “my largest focus right now is on what can bring unity,” she said. “The last 18 months we’ve been so divided, we have to get back on track and focus on what’s important for students and teachers.”
Moore emerged from Tuesday’s special election in the Richland County side of the district with more than 2,000 votes, 56% of the total. The development director and district mom hopes to bring the focus back to the needs of students and teachers after a period of often acrimonious controversies in the Chapin-Irmo area district.
The district had a 10% turnout for the special election, with 4,134 ballots cast. During the general election last November, there were 24,521 ballots cast on the Richland side of Lexington-Richland 5.
The seat came open in the first place after former board member Ed White resigned over the board’s handling of Superintendent Christina Melton’s exit from the district’s top administrative position. Melton and many members of the board clashed over the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Melton often advocating for a more cautious return to normal operations than the board majority elected in 2020.
Moore was critical of how the board has made decisions so far. “For the last 18 months, we’ve sat behind a desk and governed from what they thought best, instead of what most people wanted,” she said. “We’ve focused more on the loud 5% who get angry at board meetings, and not reached out to all the constituents and find out what we can do for teachers, who are struggling and doing virtual learning.”
But her priority as a new board member will be to smooth over any negativity and find ways to work with her fellow board members, including two — Catherine Huddle and Board Chair Jan Hammond — who endorsed one of her opponents, Haley Griggs.
“We can agree to disagree,” Moore said. “We have to have a way to come together and work together. The only way we can serve the district is working together. Are we going to agree on everything? Probably not. But we need to find agreement, and help us just to get going forward, not look at the past 18 months.”
Her first focus will be on a new facilities plan the school board approved this week, which will spend $80 million on improvements across the district. The bulk of that money will go towards reconstruction of parts of the aging Irmo High School, which Moore agrees is in need of repairs.
“We have schools that definitely need some TLC and improvements, so we can bring them up to the same playing field,” Moore said.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 1:32 PM.
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