By Delayna Earley
The Island News
The Beaufort County Board of Education has a new Chairman.
Richard Geier, District 4, was elected to the position after being nominated by Carlton Dallas during the Board’s first meeting of the year on Jan. 7.
Geier was the only nominee for the position and the vote was unanimous in his favor.
He has been on the board for six years and said in an interview with The Island News that he hopes to continue the legacy that the two previous Board chairs that he has served under have established.
Previously, Geier served as vice chair for the last two years before he was elected to the office of Board chairman on Tuesday, Jan.7.
“We have a rock-solid board this year,” Geier said. “We all have kind of the same goals, which is to improve the academic achievement for our kids in the district. Our job is to help the superintendent continue to excel.”
Geier said that specifically he hopes for the Board of Education to continue to provide funding and resources for the superintendent and school district so that they are equipped to continue handling the growth of the county and attract and retain educators.
“We have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to earn their trust that we’re using the funds that they pay in property taxes wisely,” said Geier. “I think we’ve established that but that’s a fragile thing. You have to gain the trust of the community and once you gain trust it’s easy to lose trust so you have to stay on top of things that the public will get upset about if we don’t handle the millions of dollars that we allocate every year.”
William Smith and Carlton Dallas were the nominees for the vice chairman position and Dallas won the vote.
Ingrid Boatwright, who was also just sworn in for a new term after being reelected, was the only nominee and was elected to be secretary for the Board of Education.
Thee new members of the Board of Education were sworn in, as well.
Representing District 9, Beaufort County native Leah Frazier is a former educator with more than a decade of teaching experience. She holds advanced degrees in education from the University of South Carolina and The Citadel.
Representing District 1, Pastor Issac Gordon is a community advocate with a career in transportation, having served as a bus transportation area supervisor in Bluffton and safety officer in Summerville. He most recently served the students of Beaufort County as a bus driver.
Representing District 6, Alphonso Small Jr. is self-employed and a former law enforcement officer who grew up in Hampton. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice/Sociology from Claflin University.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
