Muscogee County School Board elects new chair, vice chair

As expected, the Muscogee County School Board elected Pat Hugley Green as its chairwoman, but the vote was closer than expected.

Two weeks ago, District 6 representative Mark Cantrell told the Ledger-Enquirer, “I really don’t think anybody else will run.”

Tuesday night, however, during the board’s monthly meeting, District 2 representative John Thomas nominated Cantrell and District 8 representative Frank Myers seconded the nomination after District 4 representative Naomi Buckner had nominated Green, the District 1 representative, and District 7 representative Cathy Williams had seconded the nomination.

Board attorney Greg Ellington said the votes would be taken in order of the nominations. So after Green was elected with five votes -- from herself, county-wide representative Kia Chambers, District 5 representative Laurie McRae, Buckner and Williams -- Ellington declared the nine-member board had decided on its leader for the year and didn’t allow a vote on Cantrell.

Myers objected. He and Thomas said they would have voted for Cantrell instead. Cantrell didn’t speak during the discussion.

As expected, Chambers unanimously was elected vice chairwoman. Williams, a former chairwoman of the board, noted it’s the first time in history that the board’s chair and vice chair are women.

Green is the sixth chair of the board since 1993, when it became an elected governing body instead of being appointed by the grand jury. She follows Mary Sue Polleys (1994-2006), James Walker (2007-08), Philip Schley (2008-10), Williams (2010-12) and Rob Varner (2012-16).

Varner didn’t seek re-election to the District 5 seat, which McRae won in last year’s nonpartisan election. Green was the board’s vice chairwoman from 2012-16.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Muscogee County School Board elects new chair, vice chair."