Cherokee County school board member Kelly Marlow has been sanctioned for violating two of the board’s ethics policies and fined $3,600 — the equivalent of half of her $7,200 annual school board salary.
She is expected to appeal.
During a lengthy hearing Wednesday, the Cherokee board found that Marlow violated its code of ethics when she wrote a letter in June to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools asking for a formal investigation of the school system.
In the letter, Marlow said the district was violating SACS policies, a claim the accrediting agency later deemed unfounded.
The school board found that Marlow violated two ethics policies: one that says board members will recognize that the authority rests with the board as a whole and not any individual board member; and a second that bars board members from taking any private action that could compromise the school board or school system.
Marlow voted against both sanctions, as well as a motion that she pay $3,600 to help defray the expense of the hearing.
She voted with the board in July to hold the ethics hearing. Marlow gave no immediate comment.
She was sanctioned under a code of ethics policy that all local school boards were required to adopt after the passage of Senate Bill 84 in 2010. The law resulted from school board controversies, including one that temporarily cost Clayton County its accreditation.
According to a state Board of Education rule, Marlow will have 30 days to file an appeal.
Marlow, a mother of twins and a substitute teacher, ran for Post 1 after Cherokee Charter Academy, a startup charter school she pushed to have built, was rejected by the board. She won election last year by 24 votes.
During a June 13 school board meeting, Marlow and School Superintendent Frank Petruzielo got into several testy exchanges over the board’s budget, parliamentary procedure and the district’s participation in Common Core, a new set of academic standards adopted by Georgia and most other states and supported by the Obama administration.
After the late-night meeting, Marlow told police, she and two others were crossing the street in front of the Painted Pig Tavern in Canton. Marlow told police that suddenly a vehicle that belongs to the superintendent charged toward them.
In July, Marlow was arrested for making false statements to Canton police about the incident. That case has yet to go before a grand jury.
About the Author
