By Paul Gable
A series of email messages sent to all 12 members of the Horry County Schools Board of Education apparently broke state laws on open meetings by public bodies.
The email chain originated with board member Debbie Edmonds who sent a group email to the other 11 members of the board addressing an issue that she believed occurred during public comment at the regular meeting of the board the previous evening.
Two other board members, Janet Graham and David Koch, responded, again including their messages to all board members.
All email messages sent by and to public officials from a public domain are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. In this case, the “@ horrycountyschools.net” email address was used. Furthermore, when such messages are sent to a majority (quorum) of the governing members of a public body, in this case every member, and responses are sent to these messages, the email string alone is considered to have been a meeting of the body without proper public notice or public transparency regarding the content of the emails.
Exceptions to the law are allowed in the case of emergency, but this was not an emergency situation.
The issue addressed by Edmonds was remarks former school board Chairman Ken Richardson made in response to remarks made by the immediately prior speaker, David Warner, Chairman of the Horry County Chapter of Moms for Liberty.
“Last night’s fiasco must be addressed and not ignored or bushed aside,” said Edmonds in her first email. “I find it strange that Ken Richardson signed up to speak during Public Comments to directly attack a parent/citizen.”
Warner was speaking as the Chairman of Moms for Liberty and wearing a “Moms for Liberty” shirt while doing so. As local spokesman for a 501(c)(4) organization that advocates against school curriculums that mention LGBTQ rights, race, critical race theory and discrimination, as well as encouraging banning books from school libraries that address gender and sexuality issues, Warner is not a private citizen speaking to the board. Rather he is a public advocate on certain political issues for an organization attempting to influence public policy in the public political domain. Warner mentioned what he considered as inappropriate content in books in Horry County Schools as well as critical race theory during his remarks.
Richardson spoke about the contradiction of Warner, a father, being Chairman of the Moms for Liberty local chapter. Richardson also mentioned the contradiction of Warner now being spokesman for Moms for Liberty, an organization that advocated against mask and vaccine requirements in public schools during the Covid epidemic while Warner was a strong advocate for exactly the opposite, namely, rigid, some would characterize them as draconian, mask and vaccine requirements for students, teachers and virtually anyone else in Horry County public schools.
Today’s political speech arena is a rough and tumble place. Richardson’s comments did not approach the level heard in recent Horry County political races or on other local political issues, not to mention what has become normal on the national level. Richardson’s comments were neither an attack nor a fiasco, merely legitimate questioning of the contradictions in Warner’s various public positions in the political arena over the past several years.
Perhaps Edmonds did not understand what Richardson was saying. Regardless, the email sent by Edmonds opened up another whole ‘can of worms’.
Koch responded with, “I do agree with this. We should not let our public comment platform be used for verbal attacks, no matter who the target is…”
Graham responded, “In my opinion, a public statement and apology are in order. Perhaps Lisa can craft something.”
Graham advocated a public apology by the board, as well as suggesting the Public Information Officer for Horry County Schools “craft something.” Her comments certainly are in the realm of board policy including suggesting help from staff.
Why should the school board issue a public apology for any comments not made by one or more of them and why should school staff be suggested to help?
And, why should these suggestions and concerns be the subject of email communications rather than be discussed on the dais during open session of a public meeting with minutes and video to record the discussion? Public transparency by members of a public body is what is required!
Speak Up…