SC school board members accused of illegally meeting at Waffle House

Bristow Marchant
·3 min read

After last week’s regular meeting of the Lexington-Richland 5 school board, a majority of the seven-member board gathered again at a nearby Waffle House.

Images posted to Facebook show the dinner included board chairwoman Jan Hammond, vice chairman Ken Loveless, secretary Nikki Gardner and board member Catherine Huddle, along with two former board members, Kim Murphy and Loveless’s wife, Jondy Loveless.

Commenters online pointed out that state law requires an announcement of a meeting if a quorum of the board is present and the members discuss or act on a public issue. One pointed to guidance issued by the S.C. School Boards Association that a “common” violation of open meeting requirements is, “Having a board dinner before or after the meeting and talking business at that time.”

Some were also critical of the presence of Murphy, who last year reached a settlement with the district in a $10 million lawsuit over a delayed construction project the district blamed on Murphy’s opposition. Murphy was ejected from the school board in 2013 when her fellow board members determined that while she was elected to one of the board’s Richland County seats, she lived in Lexington County.

Board members contacted by The State dismissed the criticism, describing the impromptu dinner as a purely social gathering.

Hammond said she expected a couple members to show up and get a bite to eat after the Monday board meeting broke up comparatively early at 9:30 p.m. She didn’t plan to continue the meeting or expect a quorum — a board majority, the legal minimum needed to conduct business — to show up. District business wasn’t discussed, and some board members brought their spouses along.

“I thought it was kind of comical that someone just came up and took a picture of us,” Hammond said. “Some of the board members waved at them.”

Rather than discuss board issues, Loveless said he and his wife used the opportunity to share photos of their newborn grandson. Murphy just happened to be at the same Waffle House, Loveless said.

“We didn’t do anything we shouldn’t,” Loveless said. “Next time we’ll put an announcement out in the newspaper, but it’s just a bunch of nitpicking.”

Gardner said board members have met on many occasions outside of formal meetings, and they are conscious of meeting rules when they do.

Hammond, who said she avoids getting into political debates on Facebook, feels opponents of the board majority are trying to make more out of the get-together than it warrants.

“Some people just want to cause chaos,” she said. “They’re groping to make something out of it, and it’s the people who lost the election... I want to focus on what we’re doing for our students.”

Control of the school board flipped in the November election after some long-time members were defeated in a sometimes contentious race involving candidates in both Richland and Lexington counties. While school board elections are non-partisan, the Lexington-Richland 5 board has been split for years by factions that disagreed about the district’s priorities and direction.

“If I thought we were doing anything wrong, I would have got up and left,” Gardner said.

Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association, said such a get-together would only violate the law if it included discussion of school business. But he said the public ultimately has to depend on the members involved to not bring up district issues.

“It would be unnatural if they didn’t,” Rogers said. “It’s dangerous because you can appear to be going around the meetings law, even if they’re not. You just shouldn’t do it.”

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