By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com

In a unanimous vote, the Lee County Board of Education voted Tuesday to elect a new chairman for the next twelve months, with Republican Sherry Lynn Womack flipping positions with fellow GOP member Eric Davidson, who has served as the board’s vice chair for the past year.

Womack nominated Davidson for the position of chairman in the first of two ballots during the board’s annual organizational meeting. In the second round of voting, Womack was chosen as the board’s vice chair over Democrat Patrick Kelly in a 4-3 vote.

Womack’s 364-day tenure as chair was one marked by a number of successes. The tragedy of a middle school teacher who is charged with using students as his prey resulted in the creation of new anti-grooming and Title IX training required annually for all Lee County Schools district employees, as well as changes in board policies that relate to requirements on how allegations of such behaviors are to be reported and handled.

Womack also led the charge to bypass a state law requiring that public schools begin the start of their traditional calendar years no sooner than the Monday that is closest to August 26 and move it to August 14, an issue that had enjoyed bipartisan support across the county in recent years. She also earned credit for helping to create a closer working relationship with Lee County government, especially in the areas of finance and facilities, so county commissioners get fewer surprises in managing the costs of educating the district’s 9,200 or so students.

Her leadership style as a firebrand and a tendency to sometimes be careless with facts at times when they mattered most may have been responsible for bringing an end to her time as the school board’s leader. There were a number of missteps along the way that caused the community to question the former Army Lt. Colonel’s judgments, but it was two recent incidents that most like torpedoed her ability to continue leading the school board for another year.

The first of these was in September when during a hard-won moment of student achievement, Womack issued a press release claiming credit for Lee County High School’s rise out of the ranks of low performing schools during the 2022-23 school year.

Three members of the school’s Math department appeared before the board that month to call out Womack’s action, along with a fourth faculty member who did the same through an email. She and two other board members met with the teachers about 10 days later in an attempt to smooth things over and then ride out the public furor that had been created.

Another incident which caused questions about her ability to continue as chair occurred on what should have been a night of triumph for the school district. As Dr. Chris Dossenbach, the group’s unanimous choice, stood at the podium to receive congratulations from each member, Womack used the occasion to warn him, in front of his wife, his minor children, and his family, that he should “never frickin’ lie to me” and, even worse in an obvious sexual reference, to “keep it in (your) pants.” There was an audible gasp that could be heard even in the back of the room.

In another move that showed a new change, Dossenbach’s seat in the room at the December meeting was moved to the dais upfront and placed next to the chairman of the board. Previously, former superintendent Dr. Andy Bryan had been relegated to a small table on one side of the room at floor level, along with the board’s executive staff and attorney.

The board’s new leader

Eric Davidson will need to call upon all of his life experiences as the board prepares to move into 2024. Davidson worked in the public schools for 15 years, serving in the roles of teacher, administrator, and athletic coach, all of which will give him insights into the unique needs of the county’s 17 public schools. He also has experience as an instructor at Central Carolina Community College.

During his first year on the school board, he chaired the Curriculum and Instruction Committee, an opportunity that gave him a granular level look into what subjects and concepts are being taught at every grade level. It’s arguably the most important committee assignment, and Davidson has made it his business to learn how all those individual pieces can be crafted and fitted together to make a difference for students.

In terms of voting, Davidson has usually stuck with the Republican majority that took control of the school board following the November 2022 election. That suggests that his elevation to board chair will bring no immediate changes to the direction the school board has taken since December of 2022. But there have been times when he has asserted his independence from voting as his party might have wanted him to.

During the board’s summer retreat on July 18, for example, Davidson voted against a motion on where the board would place advertisements to seek candidates for the superintendent’s position. After the vote while still in open session, Womack asked him whether he was sure that he didn’t want to change his vote to be among the majority, to which Davidson replied, “Madame Chair, I don’t have to explain to you or anyone else why I choose to vote the way that I do.”

As he took the gavel from Womack’s hands on Tuesday, Davidson didn’t stop to give a speech on where he intends to take the board during the next year or what he hopes to accomplish. Instead, he carried on with the business at hand, following the agenda for the meeting that he and his peers had approved for carrying out the board’s business at its last scheduled work session of 2023.