Legal and personnel matters before school board Wednesday night
Most of meeting will be in executive session; statement may follow
Sumter school board will have a special-called meeting on Wednesday night, and most of the meeting will be held behind closed doors in executive session for trustees to discuss legal and personnel matters.
A district staff member notified The Sumter Item on Friday about the meeting, and an agenda was posted during the weekend.
According to the agenda, after the initial start of the meeting in open session, the full board will directly go into executive session for the receipt of legal advice from its attorney regarding pending litigation and personnel matters.
Pending litigation could refer to a dispute or a lawsuit. The legal matter may involve a district track and field coach, according to recent emails sent to The Item.
After discussing the matters behind closed doors, the trustees will return to open session and may or may not provide a statement before closing the meeting.
Wednesday's meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the district office, 1345 Wilson Hall Road.
For those not physically attending, the district broadcasts meetings live on YouTube.
Anyone wanting to attend the meeting virtually can do so via YouTube Sumter School District Board Meeting and the district's Facebook page, @SumterSCSchools.
The school board's next regularly scheduled meeting will be Monday, May 5, at the district office.
SHAWN RAGIN CHARTER SCHOOL UPDATE
In the Saturday, April 26, edition of The Item, it was reported that Sumter school board Chairman Shawn Ragin is also the planning committee chairman for a newly approved tuition-free, public charter that is slated to open in Sumter in August 2026.
The Charter Institute of Erskine's Board of Directors officially approved Ragin's charter application on Wednesday, April 23. As of Tuesday at noon, Ragin had not provided responses to several questions from The Item regarding his role with the school, saying that he was waiting to further meet with his attorney. However, Ragin did say that he plans to provide a statement for the Saturday, May 3, edition of The Item.