Who will chair Muscogee County School Board in 2018?

One day before it will be decided, who will chair the Muscogee County School Board in 2018 still is unclear – and it looks like it will take multiple votes Tuesday night to determine the board’s leadership for the year.

State law requires a school board member to receive a majority of votes to be chair or vice chair. A majority of the nine-member MCSD board is at least five votes. But through interviews with the Ledger-Enquirer, as of midday Monday, no representative seems to have enough initial support.

In last January’s vote, Naomi Buckner of District 4 nominated Pat Hugley Green of District 1 to be chair, and Cathy Williams of District 7 seconded the nomination. John Thomas of District 2 nominated Mark Cantrell of District 6 to be chair, and Frank Myers of District 8 seconded the nomination.

Board attorney Greg Ellington said during that meeting the votes would be taken in order of the nominations. So after Green was elected with five votes -- from herself, Buckner, Williams, county-wide representative Kia Chambers and Laurie McRae of District 5 -- Ellington declared the 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 and Vanessa Jackson of District 3 didn’t speak during the discussion.

Then the board unanimously elected Chambers as vice chairwoman.

This year, Green said she wants to be chairwoman again.

“I hope that my colleagues appreciate my 13 years of experience as a board member, which includes three years as vice chair and one year as chair,” Green said. “I believe that together we can work collaboratively to ensure that all children are afforded an excellent education. Each one of us brings diverse and unique talents to this important work of public education.”

Buckner, McRae and Williams told the Ledger-Enquirer they again will vote for Green.

“She studies and is familiar with board issues, and she can coherently articulate issues that impact our schools, students, parents and community, and she works to make things better,” Buckner said. “She comes prepared for the board meetings, and I think she is dedicated to the work.”

McRae said Green “has years of experience in a leadership position and has served us very well as chairman this past year.”

Williams, a past chairwoman of the board, said Green has “done a good job under difficult circumstances. She is faced with a board not upfront about voting. The board hasn’t communicated well with her on intent and has taken the opportunity to grandstand and politic.”

The only other representative who has expressed to the Ledger-Enquirer interest in chairing the board is Cantrell.

“This is no reflection on Pat or anybody,” Cantrell said. “It gets down to whether I’d like to lead at this time. … I feel like I can step up. We’ve had a few bumps in the road this year, and sometimes a change of leadership isn’t bad.”

The Ledger-Enquirer hasn’t reached Chambers, Jackson, Myers or Thomas for comment about this issue, but Cantrell said Myers and Thomas told him they would support him again, and he wasn’t sure about Jackson. As for Chambers, after speaking with her, Cantrell said, “I don’t think the five people on this side can come to a conclusion on who they’re supporting.”

Asked why, Cantrell said, “Without going into details, I think Kia would like to be chair, but she doesn’t have enough votes, and I would like to be chair, but I don’t have enough votes.”

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 the 2016 nonpartisan election. Green was the board’s vice chairwoman from 2012-16.

This story was originally published January 15, 2018 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Who will chair Muscogee County School Board in 2018?."