Former Cherokee County School Board member Phillip Gibson made the following remarks during a public comments agenda item at Monday’s school board meeting.

The remarks followed the school board’s approval last week of an early retirement by the district’s superintendent Dr. Bill James. James will retire at the end of the school year and is taking accrued leave for the rest of the semester.

Moving Forward

April 23, 2001. Almost nine years ago, this Board relinquished its control of the Cherokee County School system. As a collective body this Board represents the educational, financial and political interests of the citizens of this county. Each of you as a member of this Board represents about 3,000 or so voters. These seats do not belong to you. They belong to the people you represent. Your actions, as individual members, are to represent the majority interests of your constituency and should never be used for personal gain.

Unfortunately, nine years ago this Body saw fit to forego its responsibility to its constituents and cede most of its power over to one individual. In a free and democratic society, THIS is the dangerous precedent that you can ill afford to set.

Honorable men and women are few and far between when given extraordinary power without proper checks and balances. A person with anything less than the highest moral and ethical personal standards can quickly turn this power into a role of tyrannical behavior. Such has been the case here over the last nine years.

This Board found itself the victim of the employed tactic of divide and conquer.

Members became suspicious of one another as they found themselves being manipulated by that ploy in assuming roles of self interest and personal gain. Thus the seed of corruption sprouted and has since grown into a choking vine. Control and rule by the method of fear and intimidation became the standard as Board policy was swept aside. No one on this Board could muster a majority to call a halt to this runaway corrupted style for fear of self exposure because the damage had been done. New ideas and personal expression were repressed and employee morale pummeled. And never was this issue ever addressed in any evaluation because it simply was not permitted.

Now my friends we have come to a crossroad in this country unlike anything we have ever experienced in our lifetime. We are near a financial meltdown and it appears the people have had enough of business as usual. Call it a Tea Party movement, an awakening, or whatever moniker you choose, but this entire country is ready to take back its rule by the people and it starts at the grassroots level which is right here.

The wise here have taken note. Like a cancerous tumor, all of this corruption must be removed. Your recent actions have begun on a positive note. You have chosen an individual with impeccable character to be your surgeon. Allow your new superintendent to do her job unimpeded in removing the last remnants of this terrible disease of corruption but expect full accountability by simply enforcing the policy manual. If the policy needs amending, then change it as necessary, but above all take back your responsibility as a Board and do it seriously never allowing one person to rule you ever again.