Phenix City Council appoints Todd Stanfill to school board

The Phenix City Council by a 3-2 vote Tuesday appointed Todd Stanfill the newest member of the city’s school board, one of the last to be appointed before voters choose their board representatives.

Stanfill’s well known to area schools: In 2016 he left his job as Muscogee County’s athletic director to become principal of Harris County High School. He was assistant principal at Phenix City’s Central High School for a year and a half and spent 10 years at Columbus’ Brookstone School, where he was athletics director and assistant headmaster.

On the board he replaces John Donohue, who resigned for personal reasons in late August as voters overwhelming approved the switch to an elected school board, with the first elections set for August 2020.

Meeting Tuesday evening at the Phenix City-Russell County Library, the five-member council had two nominations: Stanfill and Janet Jackson-Goodwin.

Councilor Arthur Day, who nominated her, said she has been with the Muscogee County School District for 15 years, and worked in the Russell County School District. She has a doctorate from the University of Alabama and two master’s degrees, Day said.

The council rejected her, with Day and Councilor Vickey Carter-Johnson voting “yes,” and Councilors Griff Gordy and Steve Bailey and Mayor Eddie Lowe voting “no.”

After her nomination, Gordy nominated Stanfill, and those who had voted “no” before voted “yes,” and those who had voted “yes” voted “no.”

The councilors did not comment before their votes, but they did afterward, before the meeting adjourned.

Bailey touted Stanfill’s time at Central High School: “He’s been in the Phenix City school system before, so he’s seen it from the other side.”

Carter-Johnson said fair representation on the city school board is crucial, and most of the board members now are from the city council’s District 1, the farthest north of the city’s three voting districts.

Day said five of the board’s seven members live in District 1, not in District 2 or 3 farther south.

Gordy pointed out the 2020 elections should even out any disparity in the current board.

Voters on Aug. 28 approved a board that still will have seven members, two in each of the city’s three council districts and one elected citywide. After that initial election, the four-year terms will be staggered.

Muscogee County similarly held a general board election and then staggered terms when it switched from an appointed to an elected school board in 1993.

Phenix City voters overwhelmingly approved the referendum for an elected board 715 votes to 214, or 77 to 23 percent.

But five years earlier, in 2003, Phenix City rejected a similar proposal 1,146 votes to 868, just two years after they approved a measure asking the Alabama Legislature to let them vote on an elected board.

Filling the board’s seventh seat, Stanfill joins remaining board representatives Mesha Patrick, Brady Baird, Patricia Alexander, Fran Ellis, Samuel Estrada and Will Lawrence.

Each board term is five years, though elections will be held before terms expire.

The elected school board also will have seven members, two representing each of the city’s three council districts and one elected citywide. Each will serve a four-year term after the elections in August 2020.

This story was originally published September 18, 2018 at 9:07 PM.