Don’t believe that LR5’s school board is dysfunctional? Ask its former lawyer
Is “repugnant” a legal term?
It’s a description attorney Andrea White says may apply to the decisions of her now-former client, the Lexington-Richland 5 school board.
Citing attorney conduct rules, White wrote to the school board “that a lawyer may withdraw where the client insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant or with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement.” She wrote those words in a June resignation letter sent to board chair Jan Hammond and obtained Wednesday by The State’s Bristow Marchant.
Her letter is the latest evidence that the ruling majority on the school board needs be kicked out by voters as soon as possible, beginning with November’s elections.
White was hired by the board majority last year, presumably because most board members were confident in her ability as a lawyer and believed they could trust her legal judgment. But at some point, the board did something that she either fundamentally disagreed with or that she judged to be “repugnant.”
Let’s be clear — the attorney hired by the majority of the board members used that word — not reporters or disgruntled constituents.
The board’s own attorney.
A Wednesday column called the LR5 school board a “dumpster fire” and reminded the school district’s voters of the backroom deals, lawsuits, infighting and questionable ethics connected to the board. White’s “repugnant” statement gives the dumpster description a big thumbs up. Her letter also shows that the school board is burning down from the inside.
White wrote that the board is “operating in a manner that is dysfunctional and not conducive to the well-functioning of the district.”
Her letter implies that the board or some members took actions that could’ve hurt the district without consulting her, ignored her advice and lied to her.
That sounds like a board that can’t do right for itself much less thousands of your kids.
Earlier this year, the district dealt with an outbreak of fights at Irmo High School. That’s just one of many important issues which should have the board’s focus. Dysfunction steals that focus.
White wrote that in more than 30 years of representing school boards, she had never been in a position like the one she faced with the LR5 board.
The board put her in a position where she could not represent it “without compromising my integrity and professional reputation,” White wrote.
Everyday, lawyers defend killers, thieves and all sorts of unsavory types without any concern about harming their reputations. Rather, they are proud to uphold the fundamental values of America’s legal system.
So what does it say about the LR5 school board that their lawyer threw her hands up and said the board compromised her integrity and reputation?
Voters of LR5, take some free advice from a lawyer — it doesn’t come often — and move away from your school board.
Beginning in November.
This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 11:29 AM.