Hilton Head parent threw bags of chicken feed at feet of school board
By Mike McCombs and Delayna Earley
The Island News
If any community member is going to be banned from speaking in person during the public comment session at future Beaufort County Board of Education (BOE) meetings, it isn’t going to happen prior to the Tuesday, July 11 meeting. At least according to Board members at Sunday’s special meeting, the second in four days.
But what action the Board will actually take on Tuesday is much less clear.
Screenshots of the draft version of a letter from the Beaufort County Board of Education to David Cook. Screenshot from Beaufort County Channel
At the Thursday, July 6 special meeting, a letter notifying Hilton Head Island’s David Cook of the consequences of his actions during the June 27 meeting was drafted and discussed in executive session and, after some discussion among Board members, it was decided that the letter would be modified and finalized during executive session before the public session at the scheduled school board meeting on Tuesday, July 11.
The finalized letter was then to be hand-delivered to Cook before public session, or mailed to him if he was not present at the meeting on Tuesday.
The BOE held Thursday night’s special meeting to discuss their safety and security plans after Cook threw bags of chicken feed at their feet during the public comment session at the June 27 meeting.
On Sunday night the Board met again, this time revisiting the letter, first during executive session, and then again in public session, though Cook was not mentioned by name.
Board Secretary Angela Middleton made the motion to go into executive session “for the purpose of hearing legal advice regarding safety and security at Board meetings covered by the attorney-client privilege pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. 30-4-70(2).”
The motion was seconded by Earl Campbell and passed 8-0.
After they came out of executive session, Board member Ingrid Boatright made a motion to rescind Middleton’s motion from Thursday – the motion to “notify the community member that violated the policy GC-2-23 IV at the last board meeting pending approval of the notification at the July 11, 2023 board meeting.”
Board member Carlton Dallas seconded. Boatright, Dallas, William Smith and Chloe Gordon voted yes; Richard Geier and Earl Campbell voted no; and Middleton abstained.
But the motion failed because Board member Rachel Wisnefski had left the remote meeting and they did not have a quorum. Chair Christina Gwozdz and Board members Victory Ney and Elizabeth Hey were also absent.
“Obviously, the press is going to have a headline,” Boatright said. “And I don’t know, are we notifying the community member now? This is kind of an awkward spot we’re in here.”
“We are not,” said Vice Chair Geier, running the meeting in Gwozdz’ absence. “We are going to be discussing this again with legal advice in executive session on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.”
But Boatright was concerned leaving things as they were was confusing to the community.
“I have some concerns that the way this thing is worded, and that the motion to rescind it failed, is going to send potentially a different message than maybe we want it to send,” she said.
“We can go into executive session on Tuesday and decide, ‘Hey, we don’t want to do it this way. We want to do it another way,’” Middleton said. “So even though the motion you made failed, we’re still discussing this and we still have to agree on this letter. If we’re going to send the notification of such, saying, ‘Hey, this is your warning,’ this will give us that time to discuss that.”
Geier and Middleton emphasized that no individual constituents would be banned from coming and speaking at Tuesday’s meeting.
“That’s what I want to have clarity on,” Boatright said. “That’s what I want the public to have clarity on.”
“I hope the public is very clear that everyone can come and speak for their three minutes as long as they follow the board’s policy,” Middleton said.
“Correct,” Geier said.”
On Thursday, members of the Board were in executive session for roughly one hour and 40 minutes before reconvening public session.
As the majority of the 97 books removed from the shelves for review in October have been returned to school libraries, Cook has been vocal about his opinion of the school board and the results of the book review committees. Cook stood up during the public comment portion of the June 27 BOE meeting and told the Board members that they are too chicken to remove the books from schools before tossing bags of chicken feed at their feet.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) recommended to the Board on Thursday that it would be better to notify Cook beforehand, so that he wouldn’t be surprised or embarrassed at Tuesday’s meeting, according to Geier, but members of the board at that time agreed that it was necessary to wait until executive session on July 11 to finalize the letter so that they can be advised properly by legal counsel.
John Regal, legal counsel for the Board, advised the board members against modifying and passing the draft electronically among themselves because of the Freedom of Information Act.
Regal, during Thursday’s special meeting, then said if any modifications are made, they need to reconvene another special meeting or executive session to discuss and finalize the letter.
A motion made by Middleton and seconded by Gordon to “notify the community member who violated the policy at the last board meeting pending approval of the notification at the July 11, 2023, board meeting,” passed with five board members voting for it, one against, one abstaining and two members marked absent.
In a draft of the letter as seen in the video footage posted live to the Beaufort County School Board’s YouTube page from Thursday’s special meeting, Cook was advised that the school board has passed a resolution to prohibit him from “participating in in-person presentations in future public comment sessions until December 27, 2023.”
According to the draft, he was to be allowed to attend school board sessions in person, but he was to only be allowed “to address the board during public comments from a phone at a location outside of the school board meeting site.”
The draft states that Cook violated the “Rules of Speaking” that can be found on the backside of the form that he filled out when requesting to be recognized to speak before the board.
“The “rules” clearly state that speakers will not conduct a “breach of respect of the Board” during the speaker’s comments,” the letter went on. “Throwing objects at the Board is clearly a breach of respect and is an actual act of battery against Board Members.”
The decision to prohibit Cook from speaking in person for six months was made in accordance with the Beaufort County Schools, Board Governance Policy, GC-2-23, item IV, paragraph B, which states: Should a participant fail to abide by the reasonable directives of the Board’s or committee presiding officer, the Board or committee may prohibit the offending speaker from participating in future public comment sessions for a period not to exceed six (6) months.
Campbell made the motion to also have the policy read at the beginning of the next meeting and all following meetings with the motion passing with seven voting for it and two members absent.
A motion to not allow bags at future board business meetings was also passed during the special meeting, again with seven voting for it and two members absent.
The Island News reached out to David Cook for comment about Thursday’s special called meeting and he declined to comment.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She joined The Island News in August 2022. She formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana, Virginia and Kentucky. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
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