Williams Makes Another Innuendo

Why Not Just Come Out And Say What You Mean?

When the Sanford Herald endorsed Shawn Williams for Board of Education it did so with "equal parts enthusiasm and caution."

The caution side is showing itself.

Thursday night The Lee County Board of Education discussed having a temporary superintendent to serve until an official Interim Superintendent can be named in time to be in place by August 18 when school opens. Shawn Williams was odd man out again. Williams wanted to name one of the two current assistant superintendents.

The rest of the board disagreed, coming to an informal agreement that it was in the best interest of the schools to let the two current assistant superintendents continue to focus on their current duties during the next six weeks and consider them at the time, if either applied, for the Interim Superintendent.

After considering a long list of possibilities brought to the table by other board members, Gary Jackson, retired Lee County Schools educator and administrator was elected 5-2. Jackson had previous returned to be the interim principal for Floyd L. Knight/The Children’s Center and Southern Lee High School. Dissenting ballots came from Chairman Bill Tatum, who voted for retired Lee County Schools educator and admini­strator Charles Alexander, and from board member Shawn Williams, who cast his ballot for Assistant Superinten­dent Jim Atkinson. Both dissenting votes were for African-Americans. All board members agreed later in the meeting to make the decision unanimous by ac­clamation. (Read more about Gary Jackson by clicking here.)

Following the vote Williams again made vague accusations according to a report in the Sanford Herald :

After the vote, Williams said he was troubled by phone calls he’d gotten from people before the meeting accurately predicting the board’s appointee. “I don’t know how the community knows what we are going to do before we do it, but it is very dishearten­ing."

Here Shawn goes again with a statement hinting at allegations without actually coming out and making them. Given the fact that the board had gone twice to Gary Jackson before for interim positions in which he performed well, those who follow the board's action could hardly have found that surprising. It is about as mysterious as a sports announcer guessing who a baseball coach is going to bring to the mound in the bottom of the ninth.

This is the second time for this kind of comment. Shawn Williams was the one school board member to vote against John Bonardi as a member of the CCCC Board, saying the recommendation of Bonardi was" unethical", an answer that touched off a wave of speculation as to what he meant. (Click here to see post and interesting comments.) I think that one has a plausible explanation. Another applicant for that appointment was Margaret Murchison, President of The Council for Effective Actions and Decisions (CEAD), the leading group of African Americans in Lee County. CEAD had endorsed Shawn Williams for Board of Education. Perhaps he felt he had a political debt to repay. Given her civic contributions he could hardly have been criticized. The selection committee, however, did not recommend her. Whatever his reason for favoring her, why did he not nominate her and just vote for her?

Shawn Williams may have some good ideas for improving the schools or the operation of the school board. He may have some real problems with the way that the board is being operated. Why not just lay his cards on the table?