Rock Hill Board of Education appointed its newest member Thursday night – district native Rich Donohue.

Friday, September 07, 2001

Rock Hill Board of Education appointed its newest member Thursday night – district native Rich Donohue.

Donohue takes over for Fred Wells, who resigned Aug. 14.

The appointment came with the unanimous vote of remaining board members Wanda Jenkins, Carl Large, Jackie Harris and Troy Hardy – a condition Donohue, who attended the meeting, said he wanted to see before he would serve.

Debate over appointing Wells’s replacement began early in the meeting with superintendent Lloyd Evans reading a letter of interest from Terry Barker.

A motion by Harris and second by Hardy to appoint Barker failed with no votes from Jenkins and Large.

Jenkins followed that vote with a motion to appoint Blaine Kidd. Hardy asked if Kidd had written a letter of interest. The superintendent said no, however, Jenkins said Kidd had expressed an interest.

Large voted yes with Jenkins, but Harris and Hardy voted no, which caused the motion to appoint Kidd to fail.

Large motioned that the board reappoint Fred Wells, receiving some approval from the audience, but that motion also failed along the same vote split.

Motions to appoint Lavetta Sites, Wayne Bryant, Keith Davis and Randy Lavender followed. All motions failed with Jenkins and Large voting yes and Harris and Hardy voting no.

Attempts were made to schedule another board meeting to take up the issue again, however, the board came to an agreement on Donohue, voting 4-0 for his appointment.

Donohue was sworn in immediately, with applause from the audience.

In other action Thursday, the board:

– Approved the contract with Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 252, representing the district’s classified employees. The contract, also ratified by the union, expires June 30, 2004.