School board chair's 'friend' gets new $87,600 job with school district

A longtime friend of school board chairperson Sandra Greene was hired Tuesday for a newly created $87,600 job.

Greenwood administrator Dr. Rance Cobb will become the district's Community Learning Center director. He is the latest district employee with personal ties to the chairperson. Greene has two sons and a daughter-in-law who presently work for the school district.

"Rance and I have been friends for a long time. We graduated high school together in 1967," said Greene, who denied rumors the two are engaged. "I checked the ethics handbook before voting. It had nothing to say about the fact that you can't vote for a friend."

Joel Greene was hired as a district maintenance employee before Greene's most recent election as a school board member in 2004. Charles Greene Jr. was hired as a mail courier and printer last June. The two are sons of the chairwoman. Joel Greene is paid between $30,000 and $34,999. Charles Greene's salary is less than $30,000.

Charles Greene's wife, Misty, was hired as a library clerk at Mary Bramlett Elementary School in January at a salary of less than $30,000. She has a bachelor's degree in biology and is working on her teacher certification, according to Superintendent Bill James.

In response to James saying Misty Greene's hiring is an investment, trustee Lindley Auton was quoted in the Spartanburg HeraldJournal as saying, "It's an investment all right - this district has a large investment in all of Sandra Greene's family members it seems."

Board members typically abstain from voting on personnel decisions involving family members. Greene abstained from voting on hiring Joel and Charles Greene.

The district does not prohibit relatives of its board members being employed by the district. The school board policy does not allow district employees to work in the same building or serve in a supervisory role, such as principal, over their spouse.

Trustees Barry Bailey, Willie Crosby and Auton said they were not aware of Cobb's friendship with Greene prior to Tuesday's school board meeting. Crosby said he did not attend the meeting because he is recovering from a kidney stone.

Greene did not volunteer the information regarding her "friendship" with Cobb during the board meeting's discussion about Cobb being considered for the job.

Auton said she voted for Cobb after being assured by personnel director Andy Jones about the Greenwood administrator's qualifications.

"I wanted to make sure he was the best candidate for the position and his credentials stacked up well with the other candidates," she said.

During his 29-year career, Cobb has worked as an adult education teacher and served as director of education programs for a state prison in Greenwood. Cobb, a Gaffney native, will replace alternative director Dr. Carol McFadden, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

Cobb will be in charge of the district's alternative programs and supervise the Limestone Learning Center, which includes middle and high school alternative programs, a Parents as Preschoolers program and the adult education program.

The district plans to open a new Limestone Learning Center in 2008 as part of a $45 million building program recently approved by the school board.

Cobb was among five candidates interviewed for the position, Jones said. The district changed the position title and added new duties as part of a staff reorganization in the curriculum department discussed with school board members several months ago.

"Did the other candidates get a fair shot? I don't know and we'll never know," Auton told the Herald-Journal. "The fact of the matter is it smells funny and we, as a board, should steer away from dirty dealings."