The Fairfield County School Board voted 6-0-1 Tuesday night to approve a new organizational chart for the chain of command in the District. The new chart was necessitated by the recent departure of Bruce Illsley from the District. Illsley had served as the District’s Chief Finance and Operations Officer, to which numerous District divisions reported.

Under the new organizational chart, Kevin Robinson, Director of Finance; Wanda Robinson, Food Services Supervisor; Julie Barfield, Information Management Coordinator; Greg Twitty, Purchasing Supervisor; Moses Seibles, Maintenance Supervisor; and Danny Miller, Transportation Manager, will all report directly to the Superintendent’s office.

Danielle Miller abstained from the vote.

The Board also voted 7-0 Tuesday night to adopt a random drug testing policy for students participating in extracurricular activities. The policy was presented by head football coach Demetrius Davis as a policy for student athletes, but Board member Annie McDaniel wanted to broaden the policy even further.

“What, if anything, has occurred to make us want to put in place drug testing for this one group of students and not teachers and not administrators?” McDaniel asked. “If we’re going to do it for athletes, then we need to do it for every other category of adults and students in the district.”

“We have a problem,” Davis answered. “I’ve had some players come to me, asking ‘Coach, what is it that we can do to try to handle this problem?’ This is something we need to get done in a hurry.”

McDaniel’s original motion included all students and adults participating in activities at the high school, which received a second from Marchella Pauling. Dr. David Eubanks, interim superintendent, encouraged the Board to keep student and adult policy separate and said there are some specific legal guidelines for testing adults. McDaniel amended her motion to include only students and asked for administration to bring back a recommendation for random drug testing of adults.

Under the proposed policy,a first positive test would result in a choice for the student between participation in substance abuse services for up to 12 weeks, or being suspended from athletics for 30 days. The District would pay for the testing, Davis explained, but the student would be responsible for the cost of the services, should a positive test occur.

A public hearing on the policy was scheduled for last night at the District Office.