Monday, October 04, 2010

Oconee County Board of Education Announces Wayne Bagley as New Member

One More to Come

The Oconee County Board of Education this evening officially selected Wayne Bagley from among three finalists to fill the Post 5 position on the Board left vacant when Tom Breedlove resigned on May 10 and moved out of state.

The announcement brings to an end a lengthy selection process that first saw the Board attempt to fill the vacancy from among the four announced candidates for other positions on the Board and then switch to an open competition that brought in 17 applicants.

The Board narrowed that list of 17 down to three finalists, Bagley, Michael Burnette and Glenn Townsend--on Aug. 9 and interviewed the three finalists on Sept. 2.

The official selection of Bagley this evening came after the Board voted to go into executive session at the end of its regular meeting, which started at 4:30 p.m. at the school system’s administrative offices at 34 School street in Watkinsville

Bagley and Burnette attended the meeting and stayed after the regular meeting ended at 5:30, though no official indication had been given that an announcement was to be made.

After about five minutes in executive session, the Board returned to the meeting room.

Board Chairman David Weeks asked for the agenda of the meeting to be modified so the Board could announce the selection of the Post 5 member.

Weeks then nominated Bagley, who was supported by the three other Board members.


Weeks told Bagley he didn’t know “whether to wish you good luck or to tell you to run for the hills right now. But you are on it. So congratulations to you.”

Superintendent John A. Jackson gave me a prepared press release as soon as the announcement was made, and the announcement was put onto the school system web site after the meeting.

“At the end of the day, Mr. Bagley represented the best of some attractive choices in filling this important position,” the news release quotes Weeks as saying. “We were thankful to have three strong finalists from an impressive field of applicants for the appointment.”

Bagley is vice president of development for Lassiter Properties, Inc. Based in Morrow, southeast of Atlanta, Lassiter owns and operates timberlands in the U.S.

Bagley holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree from West Georgia College.

Bagley will fill out the term of Breedlove, which runs through 2012.

At least one more new face will join the Board after the November elections. Mack Guest was defeated in the July Republican primary by Mark Thomas.

Thomas faces Democrat Carter Strickland on the November ballot.