Florence School District 3’s Cook will serve as S.C. School Boards Association treasurer

Florence County School District 3 School Board Chairman Richard Cook is the new treasurer of the South Carolina School Boards Association.

Cook has served on the Florence 3 School Board for more than 14 years, serving as chairman from 2005 to 2007 and was elected again as chairman in July of this year. He also serves as a member of other board committees.

Since his election to the SCSBA board of directors in 2005, Cook has served as Region 5 Director, representing school boards in Clarendon, Florence and Williamsburg counties and on board committees. He also is a member of the association’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Trust board.

He manages the Lake City operations of SCE&G and has worked for the past 15 years with the South Carolina High School League as an official in football, basketball, and baseball. He is active in several community organizations including past service as president of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Rotary Club. He is a member of the Board of Directors at Northside Baptist Church.

He and his wife, Cheryl, have two sons, Scott and Jason.

In addition to Cook, the following officers will lead the association’s board of directors for a one-year term:

• President, Gerald Cook, Spartanburg 5 School Board
• President-elect, Bruce Davis, Hampton 2 School Board
• Vice President, Cynthia Smith, Lexington 1 School Board.

The following school board members were elected to serve a four-year term on the 22-member board of directors as regional directors:

• John Hughes of the Marion Two School Board will serve as Region 4 director, serving school boards in Marion, Dillon and Horry counties.
• Melinda Anderson of the Richland Two School Board will serve as Region 8 director, serving school boards in Richland County.
• Lee Attaway of the Newberry County School Board will serve as Region 12 director, serving school boards in Cherokee, Chester, Fairfield, Laurens, Newberry, and Union counties.
• Paul Talmadge of the Anderson Five School Board will serve as Region 16 director, serving school boards in Oconee and Pickens counties and Anderson School Districts Four and Five.

The following school board members were elected to fill the unexpired terms of regional director vacancies:

• Tony Folk of the Dorchester Four School Board will serve as the Region 1 director, serving school boards in Beaufort, Dorchester, Colleton and Jasper counties. Folk replaces former Dorchester 2 School Board Member Carolyn Howard.
• Ruth Jordan of the Charleston County School Board will serve as Region 2 director, serving the school board in Charleston County. Jordan replaces former Charleston County School Board Member Nancy Cook.
• Elery Little of the Georgetown County School Board will serve as Region 3 director, serving school boards in Berkeley and Georgetown counties. Little replaces former Georgetown County Board Member Johnny Wilson.
• Beth Branham of the Lexington 2 School Board will serve as Region 9 director, serving school boards in Lexington County. She replaces Lexington 1 School Board Member Cindy Smith who was elected as secretary.
• John Wesley Hightower will serve as Region 10 director, serving school boards in Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell and Hampton counties. He replaces former Barnwell 45 School Board Member Donald Kitt.

More than 350 school board members from across the state attended the association’s business meeting, which is held annually during the association’s annual Legislative Advocacy Conference to elect new officers and set the association’s legislative priorities and statements of beliefs.

The conference provided information on upcoming legislative issues impacting public schools, board members’ roles in advocacy, and featured several statewide leaders and legislators.

The S.C. School Boards Association is a nonprofit organization serving as a source of information and a statewide voice for boards governing the 85 school districts.