‘Turmoil and turnover’: How politics might be causing Midlands superintendents to leave

Baron Davis was awarded a contract extension last September as superintendent of the Richland 2 school district in northeast Richland County.

Four months later, he abruptly resigned.

His was the most recent in a string of superintendent departures in the Midlands. Six of the seven school districts in Richland and Lexington counties have said goodbye to their top leaders in the last four years, including four in just two and a half years. At least three of the departures apparently followed friction with their school boards.

This turnover is part of a larger trend that is playing out statewide and nationally. Experts say it has little to do with performance and much to do with the politicization of education over issues such as COVID-19 restrictions, critical race theory and book bans.

School superintendents are selected and overseen by district boards of trustees. It’s a complex job. Managing a school district often means managing a community’s largest organization, with the largest budget, the largest amount of property and the largest number of employees.

Debra Hamm, a former Richland 2 superintendent of three years and Davis’ predecessor, retired in 2016. She said superintendents used to serve for many years. Board members did too. Consistent leadership made it easier to establish a vision for school districts and bringing forth improvements.

That is changing.

“When you lose that continuity, it keeps districts from moving forward,” Hamm said.

The Superintendent Research Project, an initiative created by the education policy firm ILO Group, found that since March 2020, nearly 50% of the 500 most populous school districts nationwide have undergone or are undergoing leadership change.

About 46% more superintendent transitions occurred since 2020 than two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is far higher than the previous annual turnover rate, which was between 14% and 16%, according to a national association for school system leaders called AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

“Parents should be concerned,” said Daniel Domenech, the executive director of The School Superintendents Association.

Since 2020, superintendents in Sumter, Rock Hill, Charleston, Aiken, Berkeley and Marlboro counties also have left their positions.

Locally, two of the most contentious superintendent changes involved Davis and Christina Melton in Lexington-Richland 5. Both left just weeks or months after receiving indications from their school boards that they were doing well. Both also left after elections changed the makeup of their boards.

Davis resigned from his post on Jan. 17 after the board met that day for six hours behind closed doors. His resignation followed weeks of rumors that the board was going to fire him.

While it is still unclear why the Richland 2 board looked to oust Davis, tension with some board members could have been a factor.

James Manning, a former R2 board chair who did not seek reelection last fall, told The State that some members of the school board had been “unhappy” with Davis. He said they indicated that once there was a new board, firing the superintendent was an action they were going to take.

“He held board members accountable for their actions and they did not like that,” Manning said.

The state inspector general’s office issued a report last fall that noted the “fractured the lines of communication” between Davis and the board.

The board itself came under fire in the report, which said the board had been detrimental to the district’s operations.

“Each Board member contributed to its dysfunction and ineffectiveness through petty disagreements and personal attacks of other Board members,” the report said.

The Richland 2 board extended Davis’ contract in September in a narrow 4-3 vote. But the four voting to extend the contract left the board after the November election: three didn’t seek reelection and incumbent Teresa Holmes was defeated. Current board members Lindsay Agostini, Monica Scott and Lashonda McFadden voted against the extension.

Davis could not be reached for comment.

A year and a half prior, Lexington-Richland 5’s then superintendent, Melton, was named South Carolina’s Superintendent of the Year. Following her win, the school board released a statement singing her praises.

“Dr. Melton leads District 5 with an intentional, measured approach that exemplifies professionalism and grace; it is these qualities that have allowed her to skillfully guide the district through the many challenges brought on during the 2020–21 academic year,” the board said in the statement.

Weeks later, she was gone.

Melton tearfully resigned from the Irmo-Chapin area district under pressure in 2021. It wasn’t without fallout. Former LR5 board member Ed White also resigned that evening — he said he disagreed with the way Melton’s resignation was handled. He called the board “hostile” and said he believed “there was no basis for terminating her employment.”

Melton received criticism from some parents for how she handled LR5’s response to COVID-19. Her cautious approach to reopening schools and her recommendations of maintaining mask requirements were steamrolled by the school board, which led to student protests and teacher walkouts. By the end of the 2020-2021 school year, the district had a high of 125 job vacancies.

The former Lexington-Richland 5 superintendent also seemed to have a rocky relationship with board member Catherine Huddle and former board member Ken Loveless, emails showed.

“I take my responsibilities very seriously and find it concerning if there is such a concern about my leadership or integrity,” Melton wrote in an email to the LR5 board at the time.

Melton tried to keep her position at LR5 and never indicated she wanted to leave, according to an affidavit from White. White’s affidavit was filed as part of a lawsuit brought against the board by The State Media Co. The LR5 board approved a settlement with Melton of almost $230,000 behind closed doors prior to her resignation. The lawsuit alleges that the board violated the state’s open meeting laws by not approving the settlement in public.

After the lawsuit was filed, the board approved the settlement in a public vote.

Melton resigned in June 2021 just more than six months after two board incumbents lost in the November 2020 elections. A third incumbent didn’t seek reelection that year.

Melton could not be reached for comment.

Nicholas Wade, the former superintendent of Lexington 2 in Cayce-West Columbia, was paid $240K to step down in June 2022 after only a year in the role. A reason for his departure was not given.

Wade declined to comment on the record.

In April 2022, Lexington 1 superintendent Greg Little announced he would be leaving the central Lexington County district by the end of the school year. Little joined the South Carolina technical college system as a vice president of strategic partnerships and innovation. There has been no indication that Little and the Lexington 1 board were at odds.

Two other districts, Lexington 3 in Batesburg-Leesville and Lexington 4 in Gaston-Swansea, hired new superintendents between 2019 and 2020.

From what is known about the recent exits of these superintendents, they have little to do with their performance, or the performance of district schools or students. For example, Melton received outstanding annual evaluations during her time with Lexington-Richland 5. And Davis received “overall distinguished” evaluations from the board, which is Richland 2’s highest level of performance. His contract was extended several times since he began in 2017.

Politics have been worming their way into the education system and into school boards across the country for some time. Domenech said critical race theory, book banning and COVID-19 have been central to this movement as school boards are redrawn around party lines.

Ronald Epps, a former Richland 1 superintendent, said increased superintendent turnover has been expected by education experts since he left the district in the early 2000s, but COVID-19 made it more acute.

School boards in South Carolina are supposed to be nonpartisan, but Epps said they are only nonpartisan on paper.

“These so-called nonpartisan positions are now not only partisan, but are part of the front line of the partisan battle to control school boards and ultimately control state legislatures and ultimately control the political environment throughout the country,” Epps said.

Schools are microcosms of community conflict, Epps said, and superintendents find themselves caught in the crosshairs.

“It is becoming more about fighting the political battles and fighting the educational battles,” Epps said. “Many superintendents just are not willing to engage in the political warfare that’s going on in these communities.”

Community divisions that make their way into schools create a zero-sum game, Epps said, and even a loss for the districts’ students who are trying to learn. These divisions manifest in “turmoil and turnover.”

“It’s a thankless job,” Epps said. “We have been so focused on the shortcomings of society, and all of those shortcomings have been laid at the feet of education.”

Relationships between a superintendent and board members, and mutual respect with the goal of doing the right thing for kids, is essential to progress, Hamm said. When that piece is missing, it becomes difficult.

“Commonality makes it easier to work together,” Hamm said. “It made me love my job.”

A revolving door of leadership will have a negative impact, Epps said. As superintendents exit, and board members cycle in and out with every election, it becomes difficult to execute a vision of success for a school district. Because of the constant change in leadership, districts’ strategic plans are put on a shelf to gather dust, Epps said.

Students and teachers suffer as a result. The high turnover rate in superintendency is serious, said Barnett Berry, an education professor at the University of South Carolina. Stability in leadership is connected to better outcomes for both of these groups.

Now, Hamm said people are trying to wade through what really matters — many of the controversies that get in the way of school districts aren’t important to an education.

“I’m hoping that over time, what people want from their schools is a good education for their children,” Hamm said. “There are really good people in school district leadership who are working very hard to do what is in the best interest of the students that they serve.”