Republican Candidates For Oconee County School Board Face Questions About Board Transparency, Other Issues, at Party Meeting

***State School Superintendent Also Speaks***

Questioners of the three Republican Party candidates for the Oconee County School Board raised concerns at the party’s meeting last month about Board responsiveness to citizen input, transparency, and conflicts of interest.

Michael Ransom, currently Post 5 Member of the Board who is seeking to be elected Post 1 Board Chair, said he believes the Board and school administrators do respond to citizens and the Board is transparent in its actions.

Adam Hammond, running for open Post 4 on the Board, was more critical of the Board, saying even the perception of a lack of responsiveness and transparency is a problem.

Hammond said the Board of Education should begin holding quarterly Town Hall meetings as the Board of Commissioners already do.

Brock Toole, seeking to replace Ransom as Post 5 Board Member, said he did not agree with those who said he will have a conflict of interest if he is elected because his wife also is a school employee, as is Ransom’s.

Ransom has no opposition on the Nov. 5 ballot, but Hammond will face Sheri Ward Long, and Toole will face Katie Green.

Long qualified as a Democrat but has not been active in the party and is running without Democratic Party support, while Green was recruited by the local party and is running with party support.

Following the presentations and question and answer session with each of the three Republican Party candidates at the late August meeting, Richard Woods, Georgia State Superintendent of Schools, said school safety is the top education priority in the state.

Woods made his comments before the Sept. 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County.

Ransom Introduction

At the beginning of the meeting, Chair Kathy Hurley noted that Oconee County School Superintendent Jason Branch was present, as were Board Chair Kim Argo and Board Member Ryan Hammock.

Ransom 4/25/2024 Candidate Forum

Ransom, whose four-year term on the Board expires at the end of the year, said he wasn’t sure at first he was going to run again but decided he wanted to retain his Post 5 position on the Board. Ransom was first elected to the Board four years ago.

When Chair Argo announced in February that she would step down after 16 years on the Board, Ransom decided to run instead for Post 1, which is designated as the Board Chair position.

Whether Ransom actually serves as chair could depend on how voters respond to a referendum the Board has placed on the November ballot that joins the three School Board races.

The Board is asking voters to give up their control over who serves as Board Chair and allow the Board itself to select its chair from among the elected members.

While the Board never officially voted to put the item on the ballot, Hammock, Ransom, and Board Member Amy Parrish did not object when current Post 4 Board Member Tim Burgess presented the ballot item to the Board.

“I’m pretty invested in the school system here,” Ransom said in explaining his decision to seek the chair position.

He said he has three girls in Oconee County Schools and his wife is a teacher at High Shoals Elementary School. “Selfishly, I want to see them succeed and my wife succeed,” he said.

Questions From Audience

The first questioner wanted to know if Ransom has opposition on the November ballot, and Ransom confirmed that he does not.

“I do constantly read about the lack of transparency,” the second questioner said. Why is that?”

“We always welcome anybody who wants to reach out to us,” Ransom said. “Or reach out to Dr. Branch and his cabinet. Anybody who wants to stop by to the Board and talk.”

“If you want to see maybe a budget or a more detailed line item, our CFO would be happy to sit down and go through all of the line items with you in detail,” he said.

“Really it is just that we try to keep meetings at a certain amount of time, cover what we need to cover, and move on,” he said. “But I think most Board members are more than happy to talk with you on the phone or meet with you for coffee.”

Questionner Follow-Up

“You all are on the front page of the Enterprise every other week,” the questioner said when Ransom finished, referring to the county legal organ, The Oconee Enterprise.

“I’m baffled why they have to request open records,” he said. “To me, it’s a terrible image for the Board. To me, if it took you all 10 minutes at a meeting to explain something they’re asking. To me, it’s a perception issue.

“As a taxpayer and voting citizen, I just have a problem that the perception of you all,” he continued. “The front page of the Enterprise last week was an embarrassment. If the press asks a question, you should give it an answer.”

The Republican Party meeting was on Aug. 26, and the front page of the Aug. 15 edition of the paper contained a picture of school officials and county deputies blocking and restraining Enterprise co-publisher and editor Michael Prochaska as he tried to address the Board.

“I’m happy to answer a question verbally,” Ransom said. “But if there is something document-wise that is needed to be handed out, obviously they go through an open records request because that is policy and procedure.”

Ransom said often there are problems understanding what the person is seeking through the open records request and “We can’t read in and know their intent if they are really looking for one thing but they are asking for another.”

“It is hard to have a productive conversation in a Board meeting when somebody’s got three minutes to speak,” Ransom said. “We’ll try to answer it then if we can.”

“If not, I always go up to whoever is at the meeting and say call me afterwards or come in and we’ll sit with whoever at the cabinet level, whether that is the CFO or Human Resources or whoever.”

Board policy is to allow citizens to speak for only three minutes at one of its two Board meetings each month.

Third Question To Ransom

“I moved here in 2018,” Julie Mauck told Ransom. “I never would have moved here if I had known the schools used Chromebooks. I never would have moved here. And the entire education is focused around this stupid data collection machine.”

“I’ve sent email to the Board about the odious technology, about the concerns, about social emotional learning,” Mauck said. “You all never responded.”

“If you do respond by email, it is going to be a joint response by Chair Argo that says basically nothing,” she continued. “Sometimes people don’t have time to sit down and have a conversation. Prefer an email in some form.”

“You all don’t do that,” she said. “That is part of the transparency problem, and it is definitely one I’ve had for about six years now.”

“I personally try to respond to as many emails as I can,” Ransom told Mauck. “I work out in the woods. I’m in forestry. So there is a lot of times. I go to Mississippi quite frequently and there is no cell phone reception there, so emails get stacked up at the end of the day and I respond to those. I miss them sometimes.”

“I try to respond to them,” he continued. “If I see that Ms. Argo has already responded to it, I’ll let it go at that. If there is somebody at the cabinet level who knows more than I do and I see that they’re responding it, then I’ll let that person handle it. A lot of times maybe it is something that I’m not the expert on.”

Ransom gave a lengthy answer on technology, drawing on the experiences of his wife.

“I don’t like all the data mining that is essentially going on with Google,” he said at one point. “But I do like the fact that Chromebooks allow kids to be flexible.”

“As far as social and emotional learning, my take on that is that it is not an indoctrination into some kind of social agenda,” he said. “It is more teachers talking to the kids and making sure that they are ok and they are good where they are. It is just checking on their well being.”

Final Questions For Ransom

The next questionner complained about the surveys used in the schools.

Ransom said parents can opt out of the surveys.

“At some point you have to talk to your kid about those issues,” he said. “I talk to mine all the time so that they have a firm foundation of what they believe in so that when they do get faced with some kind of serious issue like that they know the right answer. And then know where I stand on that issue as well.”

The final questioner asked Ransom for is opinion on AI.

Ransom said it is important to strike a balance, and for some it is simply a research tool.

The presentation and exchange lasted a little more than 13 minutes.

Hammond’s Introduction

Hammond said he wife formerly worked for the Oconee County Schools and his daughter is a sixth grader in the system at present.

Hammond 4/25/2024 Candidate Forum

“I’m a product of Oconee County School,” Hammond said. “I love Oconee County. I was really called to enter this race because of my passion for the community.”

Hammond is the executive director of the Georgia 4-H Foundation, which he called “the largest youth fellowship organization in the state of Georgia.”

“So with that perspective I felt like I could bring a unique voice and unique context to what is going on with the School Board,” he said.

Hammond said “when you are thinking about people and the School Board, it has got to be about transparency and communication.”

“We owe it to the taxpayers. We owe it to the people who have put us in office to answer these questions and explain our positions on things and be willing and ready,” he said.

“Whether we like it or not, there is a perception that there is a transparency issue,” Hammond said. “So we need to be doing things that fix that.” He called for quarterly town hall meetings, which, he said. would provide “a relief valve for the community.”

Hammond said he would be an “advocate for taxpayers” and that, with assessments going up and resulting in tax increases “we have to have a break somewhere. We have to have some relief there.”

“The final pillar of my campaign is all about safety in our schools, Hammond said. We have an incredible sheriff...(and) we need to continue the conversation and work him to innovate the way we keep our schools safe.”

First Question For Hammond

“This is about the gentleman who brought The Oconee Enterprise story,” the first person to pose a question to Hammond said, “and transparency has been mentioned two or three times.”

“Would you be a proponent or would you agree to a rule change that would allow business owners in Oconee County or credentialed news media to sign in and address the Board of Education or pose a question regardless of whether they live inside Oconee County or not?”

Chair Argo told co-publishers Michael and Amanda Prochaska at the Aug. 12 meeting that they could not address the Board because they had not signed up in advance and because they did not live in Oconee County.

“It never should have happened in the first place because the taxes shouldn’t have been raised,” Hammond said. The Board was required to hold tax hearings because it decided to increase property taxes by 2.27 percent.

“I was in that meeting and I personally feel like some of the language that was used was, if you will, throwing them under the bus,” Hammond said. “I think it can be fair to say that.”

“I think that kind of language is not helpful when we talk about community and we talk about partnerships and working together,” he continued. “There are several things here that could have been worked on in that instance.”

“At the end of the day, I am in favor of a business owner, because they are paying taxes, property taxes which fund the school,” he said. “I believe there is a place for that, and I think there is a good opportunity as well.”

“In addition to that, I would hope the school system is answering media requests from the local media because that’s our way of knowing what’s going on,” he said. “That reinforces transparency.”

Follow-Up Questions

“How important is it to you to see that kids that, maybe they want to get a technical degree, are welcome here and have a feeling that they know they will be prepared,” Jeff Hood asked Hammond.

“I think it is important to not worry as much about our numbers and the rates of who may be going to college,” Hammond said. “We need to be focused on the student.”

“It’s all about student first and kids first,” he said, and we need to be doing the things that’s best for them. Not necessary what’s best to say 99 percent of our kids went to college.”

Hammond also was asked about discussion of a third high school for the county.

“I don’t think we should necessarily pass that burden onto our taxpayers at this point,” he said. “But when we do get to that point...of growth, maybe we innovate how we think about a third high school.”

“Maybe it is a CTAE academy,” he said. “Maybe it is a resource where people are learning cutting edge things.” CTAE stands for Career Technical and Agricultural Education.

The final questioner asked if Hammond had opposition, and he said a Democrat was running against him.

Hammond talked and took questions for nearly 16 minutes.

Toole Introduced Himself

Toole told the audience that his wife works in the Oconee County School System and that he has three children in the schools, two at Oconee County High School and one at Colham Ferry Elementary School. His wife works in Information Technology.

Toole 4/25/2024 Candidate Forum

“I believe in this community. I am a local businessman, entrepreneur,” Toole said. “I worked for the school system for a little over four years as assistant superintendent before I went out and I started a business on my own.”

“I chose that path and I realized that I really, really, really miss the people of our school system,” he said. “We have a great community. I believe we have a great school system.”

“All it takes, in my mind, if for a few people to get elected in the wrong positions to make something really good go bad,” he said. “If you had asked me five years ago if I would run for politics, I’d have told you absolutely not.”

“What I would like to see is us continue to do a good job,” he said. “Us continue to do a better job. Take the things that Mark Thomas and people of yesteryear have put down and continue to build upon. And make that foundation just better and better and better.” Oconee County Commissioner Mark Thomas previously was a member of the School Board.

Toole said he worked for the Puerto Rican government and worked for Walmart about 20 years.”

At Oconee County Schools, Toole was Chief Operating Officer, and he said “I know he school system inside and out.”

“I know what kind of people we have in the school system,” he said. “I was in six or seven schools a day. That was my job. I found out what was wrong and I did my best to correct it, fix it with the people that were around us.”

Questions For Toole

Three people asked Toole a question, all dealing with his wife’s employment.

“School Board members with spouses that work in the school system obviously is a concern of mine,” Mauck said.

Victoria Cruz said she also was concerned with “This question of conflict of interest and why you can’t see it.”

“What do you mean?” Toole asked.

“Conflict of interest is when a Board member having a spouse or other relatives in the school system,” Cruz said. “There is conflict there that some of us see because you are sitting on a Board that is approving salary increases, approving a lot of the curriculum choices, and also the investments, the investments, taxes, tax rates.”

“Obviously, it is to your spouse’s benefit if you approve that,” she said. “If you approve another school. I means more contributions to your retirement...You are not going to vote against a salary increase for your relatives.”

“Absolutely I would have if it was right,” Toole said.

Toole Continues

“I’m also a taxpayer,” Toole said. “Should I recuse myself on any tax cut because I’m a taxpayer?”

“We can go down this hole as far as we want to,” he said. “If you want to call it a conflict, whatever...I don’t think I have a conflict of interest.”

“If I ever thought I would, I would recuse myself,” he said. “And I would make that decision on my own. I shouldn’t be doing this. I should take a step back and let somebody else do it.”

“We are just going to have to disagree on this one,” he said. “I’m ok with that. I don’t mind. I think it is a good question. But I don’t agree.”

“I, at least, would be more comfortable if you would acknowledge that they have a point,” another questioner said. “You may not agree with it, but you are just basically dismissing it and there is a potential conflict of interest. There is.”

“Because you could make a decision as a Board member that will directly, monetarily impact your wife and yourself because of the family,” the person continued. “So I would much prefer an acknowledgment that it is a serious point and you’ll consider it. Something other than just dismissing it out of hand. That’s all.”

“I’m not discounting the point,” Toole said. “I’m just saying there is no validity to it in my view. I’m not discounting it. You have a right to say whatever you want to say. I’m just telling you I’m not doing that.”

Toole talked for 13 minutes.

State Superintendent Woods

“Education really is the perfect storm,” State Superintendent Woods said when he followed Toole in speaking. “It is going to generate a lot of passion. It is going to generate a lot of emotion, because you are dealing with two things that matter to folks.”

“You are dealing with money, and you are dealing with kids,” he said.

“Our proper roll is really to support our local school districts,” he said of the state Department of Education. “Your support down here. Your success is our success. That is the way this operates.”

“When we talk about preparing our kid for life, the first thing we talk about is school safety,” he continued. “I mean safety first. Before we can think about ABCs and 123s we’ve got to make sure that every child, every staff member, every individual that steps on our campus enters a safe environment.”

Woods said the state has provided money for school districts to address school safety. That money can be used for school resource officers, he said.

“Today we have to worry, unfortunately, about somebody coming onto our campus and intentionally trying to harm kids and staff members,” he said.

The Winder school shooting was nine days after Woods spoke.

Woods spoke and took questions for a half hour.

GOP Meetings

When possible, I attend the meetings of both political parties.

I was not able to attend the Aug. 26 meeting of the Republican Party, but someone did provide me with an audio recording of the meeting, which I used for this report.

Not all of those who asked questions identified themselves. 

The Sept. 23 meeting of the Oconee County Republican Party will feature Republicans Oconee County Sheriff James Hale and Superior Court Clerk Angela Elder-Johnson.

Reginald Wade and Laura King are running as Democrats against Hale and Elder-Johnson respectively.

Wade was recruited by and has Democratic Party Support.

King has not been active in the Democratic Party but qualified as a Democrat. She does not have party support.

Also featured at the Sept. 23 meeting will be Kalki Yalamanchili, Independent candidate for District Attorney.

No Republican will be on the Nov. 5 ballot in the District Attorney race, but Democrat Deborah Gonzalez is seeking re-election.

The Sept. 23 meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the Lobby Meeting Room of the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus, 1305 Jennings Mill Road.