Education
School board elects Keith Moore as chairman
The Georgetown County School Board got a new chairman and three new members this week.
Keith Moore from District 7 was unanimously elected chairman. Moore thanked the board for their “confidence” in him.
“It’s going to be challenging, but I know that with the support of the board we can overcome this challenge,” Moore said. “I understand that my vote, my opinion, doesn’t matter more than anybody else’s on the board.”
Moore replaces Chairman Bill Gaskins, who could not run for re-election because he no longer lives in District 5.
Moore said he did not seek the chairmanship, which makes it more special to him.
“They believed that I could do the job and I appreciate that very much,” he added.
Kristie Baxley in District 6, Fallon Bordner in District 5 and Eileen Johnson in District 3 were sworn in on Tuesday.
Johnson beat incumbent Sandra Johnson in this month’s election for the nonpartisan board. Baxley and Bordner ran unopposed.
Baxley said she wanted to be part of the changes that need to be made to “get to the right place together.”
Bordner “used the term ‘the village’ and I use that a lot. I want to be part of the village,” she during comments at the board meeting. “And I want to help to grow the village that we have here in the county.”
Baxley wants to concentrate on making kids “whole, happy, healthy, strong and safe.”
“I’m just really excited to work with you all. I think this is a really unique group of individuals,” Baxley said. “I look forward to learning all of your individual passions and abilities and taking all of our individual talents and abilities and putting them together and being just one really great big board. I’m just really excited on what we can do together.”
Johnson said she needs to know that every child in the county and the state is getting the best education possible.
“Right now, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” she added.
While she was campaigning, Johnson talked to community members about what’s going on in the county and said she found the answers “distressing.”
“You know something, we can turn this around,” she said. “It’s going to take some work on everybody’s part.”
Bordner said she prayed before she filed to run to make sure her heart was in it for the right reasons.
“It takes a village to raise these children and we have to show them love and we have to show them that we support them,” she said. “Even if it means sometimes making tough decisions.”
Moore, the executive director of the Browns Ferry Water District, is in the middle of his first term on the board. Gaskins, who had a career in education, was also elected chairman in the middle of his first term.
Moore said the most important thing he’s learned in the past two years was how to listen.
“I still have a lot to learn, but I’ve learned a lot by listening,” he added. “I understand that I’m not going to make everybody happy, but you have to make the best decision, at least what you think is the best decision, for our kids.”
Moore urged the new board members to stay focused on the kids.
“If we keep that in front of all our actions, we won’t go wrong,” he said.
Randy Walker, who was elected to his third term representing District 4 last month, was elected vice chairman. Walker replaces Vice Chairman Lynne Ford, who could not run for re-election because she no longer lives in District 6.
Kathy Anderson (at-large) was re-elected secretary, and Robert Cox (at-large) takes over as parliamentarian from Sandra Johnson.
Patti Hammel was also sworn in after running unopposed for re-election in District 1.
