MATTHEW BURNETTE

Staff Writer

Four new members were sworn into the Coffee County School Board during the Sept. 14 meeting.

Former Board members Dr. Gary Nester and Brent Parsley were sworn in for new terms as were former Coffee County Director of Schools Dr. Charles Lawson and former teacher Dana Morris.

Board elections were then held to determine who the Chairman and Vice Chairman would be for the year.

For Chairman, Board member Holly Matthews nominated Nester who was unanimously voted into the position.

During the first round of voting for Vice Chairman, Board member Gary Cordell nominated Board member Robert Gilley, Board member Scott Hansert nominated Matthews and Morris nominated Parsley.

Gilley received three votes as did Parsley, knocking Matthews out of contention, with Parsley and Matthews abstaining.

In the second round, Parsley received five votes to Gilley’s two with both nominees abstaining from the vote making Parsley the Vice Chairman.

Each new member addressed the room during the discussion portion of the meeting.

“I think it’s an honor to be on this Board, and it is my goal to do so in a professional manner, and I think we are going to work well together professionally,” said Morris.

Parsley noted that it was “a pleasure” to be back on the Board after previously serving for two years.

“I’m glad to be back, and I look forward to working with everybody up here and doing the best for Coffee County and our school system and the students and educators,” he said.

Lawson read from a written statement that he prepared “in order to protect time while still saying what I feel needs to be said.”

“Despite a lie that was told about me in the June 2024 Special Call School Board meeting, I demonstrated in my time as Director of Schools that I was extremely patient and overly cautious about being insubordinate to School Board members,” he read. “This patience and restraint remained even when Board members said things that were incorrect, unintelligent and at times dishonest.”

Lawson pointed out that, as a fellow Board member, he could not be insubordinate to other Board members, therefore the patience and restraint he displayed as Director of Schools will be “largely eliminated” in public comments he makes to School Board members.

“When I was Director, I provided fact-check emails to Board members that corrected inaccurate information that had been provided in Board gatherings,” he explained. “These emails were designed to ensure that all Board members possessed correct data for their decision-making process. Being careful to never cause public embarrassment to School Board members, I didn’t feel that it was proper of me to correct these inaccuracies in a public School Board meeting. I will continue to conduct these fact checks for inaccurate information in my role as a School Board member.”

The major difference, Lawson noted, is that he will be using the discussion time towards the end of the meetings when Board members address the public to give the corrected information.

“I welcome any of my fellow Board members to correct any inaccurate information that I provide as well,” he continued. “I invite all district employees or members of the public who hear any of us make an incorrect statement to reach out to a Board member and provide us with accurate information to be included in our public statements at this time.”

Lawson also pledged to be “the strongest steward I can be” of the public funds within Coffee County Schools.

In my time as Director of Schools, the district completed dozens of building improvement projects, employees received rapid increases in compensation that greatly increased their competitiveness with nearby school districts, all while dramatically increasing the Fund Balance.

At the start of his time as Director, Lawson said that the Fund Balance was $6.8 million. Being responsible for presenting five budgets to the Board, he noted that by the conclusion of his fifth year, the Fund Balance had grown to $24.7 million, an increase of $17.9 million.

He also added that Schools’ Business Manager April Melson “worked magic” with the budgets to blend pay scales, district needs and Fund Balance increases.

Lawson explained that the Fund Balance had decreased $2.7 million since that time to $22 million.

While he acknowledged that there were some legitimate reasons for that decrease, he also said there were some he considered “foolish,” including paying two Directors for nearly eight months and a third for a ninth month and the Board’s approval of a contract for work at Carden Jarrell Field that was $367,000 above the lowest bid.

“I can assure the taxpayers of Coffee County and the school district’s funding body, the Coffee County Commission, that I will never be a party to such waste and abuse of our financial resources,” Lawson concluded. “Thank you, and I hope everyone has a wonderful evening.”

Nester closed out the discussion portion by saying that he is glad to be back on the School Board.

“I appreciate y’all having the confidence in me for the Chairman, but I want this to be all of our Board, and we can change and I want ideas. Do we need to change the flow of the agenda? Are there things that you want to see? How can we make this work better for us?

He added that fellow Board members should feel free to contact him with ideas or concerns.

“I would like for everyone to have input, and I want to encourage- we had a great crowd today- we love to see that and want them to keep coming back.”

The next gathering of the School Board will be at their annual Fall Retreat in the District Office board room starting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24.