The Fairfield County School Board capped off the first day of their new superintendent, Dr. Patrice Robinson, by electing new board officers at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Annie McDaniel edged out Danielle Miller, 4 votes to 3, for the position of chairperson. McDaniel was nominated by the outgoing chair, Catherine Kennedy.

Rickey Johnson retained his seat as vice chair on a 5-0 vote. Miller and fellow board member Polly Parker abstained.

Marchella Pauling was named the board’s new secretary, replacing McDaniel, on a 5-2 vote, with Parker and Miller voting against. Pauling was also nominated by Kennedy.

Board member Henry Miller received a nomination for the vice chair position, but declined.

McDaniel’s first message to the board was a positive one, as she called for unity among board members and among the community in an effort to make necessary improvements to the school system.

“If we can start trying to bring unity to the school district and unity to the community, if we could take that step and start scheduling meetings with the other stakeholders within our district so we can start having constructive dialogue to see what we can do to start working together,” McDaniel said. “When I say stakeholders, that includes the Chamber [of Commerce], the county council, the city, all the bodies, and our parent organizations as well.”

The meetings with the district’s stakeholders, McDaniel said, are part of the district’s preparations for a return visit by a SACS Special Review Team.

Confusion and an uncooperative environment during a Special Review Team visit in October led to SACS (the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) to place the school district’s accreditation status on probation.

McDaniel said she wanted to work to make sure there’s no confusion during the next visit, which is scheduled for Feb. 28 - March 2.

“We’re already working to gather all the data for all the questions they’ve asked,” McDaniel said.

The board was also briefed on a meeting last week between the previous executive committee, a representative from SACS and a representative of the S.C. School Board Association (see the Jan. 19 edition of The Herald Independent).

The meeting “gave us open dialogue. It cleared a positive pathway and gave us insight on how to better prepare for the upcoming SACS visit,” said Dr. Robinson.

Some board members, while pleased that such a meeting took place, were less than thrilled to be receiving an update so late.

“I am elated that we have agreed to cooperate with them. I am excited and I commend our board members for stepping up and starting to cooperate with SACS,” said Danielle Miller. “However, the next time, I would like to be informed, not by reading the newspaper this morning, but by the executive committee.”

In addition to gathering necessary data, McDaniel said the board’s attorney, Charles Boykin, is working with SACS to grant the next review team access to board members, staff and stakeholders.

Such meetings were denied the October review team, based on what then-chair Kennedy said was “legal advice.”