The cursing, the squabbling and the anger in Miller County might not end, but the school board as it is currently composed there will.
Gov. Nathan Deal signed an executive order Monday creating a committee that will recommend new members for the Miller County board. The governor's action comes a month after the state Board of Education recommended the dissolution of the Miller board, which has some members are locked in a dispute with the superintendent that has threatened the accreditation status of the school district.
“We have a school board on the verge of losing accreditation because of the dysfunction of the school board,” said Deal spokesman Brian Robinson. “... We are going to move toward getting a panel in place so that we can reconstitute the Miller County School Board and save its accreditation so kids can go to college.”
It is the second time in two years that a governor has acted to remove an entire school board, and it left many in the southwest Georgia county, which is roughly 200 miles from Atlanta, confused and angry.
"I've got an appointment with the governor on May 17," said Bob Eldridge, one of the two board members whose disagreements with Miller County Superintendent Robert McIntosh degenerated into profane shouting matches. "I'm going to let him know exactly what I think of this. It's ridiculous. I'm tired of this (mess)."
The Miller County school district was placed on probation by its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, after it determined that board members were overstepping their authority and that the board and the superintendent were not acting together in the best interest of the district's students. If SACS were to pull the district's accreditation, the value of high school diplomas would be weakened. Student scholarship opportunities would be limited, and it is likely that the district would also suffer a loss of faculty and staff.
It was McIntosh who reported his board to SACS. The state board of education twice summoned McIntosh and his board to Atlanta for hearings to discuss their problems. After the second hearing, the state board voted unanimously to recommend that Deal dissolve the board.
In 2010, then-Gov. Sonny Perdue removed Warren County's school board, but the state Supreme Court overturned that decision. Deal acted Monday under a 2011 law that established a new process for the removal of school board members.
Miller County School Board Member Renza Israel said the governor's decision still amounts to the disenfranchisement of voters in that county.
"You're taking away everybody in our county's right to vote," Israel said. "That's wrong. This is about a superintendent crying and getting what he wants."
McIntosh said he remains disappointed that dissolving the board was necessary.
"Conditions have not improved," McIntosh said. "I feel like this is the only solution. The whole situation is unfortunate. There are no clear winners here other than the students and parents of Miller County."
Not all of them were feeling victorious, however.
"McIntosh, how he keeps dodging bullets, I don't know," said Steve Ard, an area restaurant owner who has three children in the district. "He's the problem."
The nominating committee created by the governor is expected to give him replacement suggestions by the end of the month. Miller County's board meets on Monday, and McIntosh said it could "get a little heated."
Israel and Eldridge, the two most outspoken opponents of McIntosh on the five-member board, face the longest-lasting consequences of the governor's decision.
They must remain off the board until at least 2014, when their terms were set to expire. Their three colleagues have terms that are ending this year, and as the governor's action will wipe out the remainder of their current term, they could run again for terms that begin next year.
One member, chairman Leroy Bush, has said he will run. His hand-written signs are already nailed onto pine trees throughout the county.
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