The former president of the Marion County school board, who abruptly resigned Jan. 12 following a disagreement among the board members, gave his reasoning for leaving his post Wednesday.
Richard Culliver said he feels like he was vilified for no reason, but his decision to resign really came down to doing what’s best for the students of Marion County.
“The issue became a distraction to the most important part, and that’s educating children. So I removed the distraction, and I thought it was the best thing to do for the school district and especially for the kids,” he said.
Culliver was the board president throughout the 2020 calendar year and was nominated and voted in by his fellow board members to serve in the role for a second consecutive year at beginning of the new year. The vote was 3-2 with Culliver, Keith Stuckey (who resigned Jan. 13 for health reasons) and Wendy Hammond voting in favor of another term and Larry Jenkins and Eric Hutto voting against.
The dissention arose with Jenkins bringing it to the board’s attention that the post was regularly rotated annually between the board members for nearly 50 years. It would have been Jenkins’ turn in the rotation to serve as president.
During the Jan. 11 board meeting, Jenkins asked Culliver to resign as president (but remain a member of the board), which Culliver initially refused, saying the board followed its regular democratic practice by having a fair vote. The nomination and vote for Culliver to remain president did follow the district’s protocols. However, the next day Culliver decided to resign from the board entirely.
A special board meeting was held Jan. 22 in which Jenkins was voted in as president.
Culliver said he encourages all Marion County taxpayers that want to see changes and improvements in Marion County schools to speak at board meetings.
