LUMBERTON — The chairman of the Public Schools of Robeson County Board of Education was shown the week before Tuesday’s meeting the documents indicating the board’s District 1 representative had moved outside the district, but he chose to take no action and to not share the information to the members of the board.
“It was rumor, but I don’t operate with rumors, and I don’t take up the board’s time with rumors,” John Campbell said.
However, he did place the issue on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. What he saw raised doubt about Loistine DeFreece’s residency status.
During the public comment period of Tuesday’s meeting, We the People frontman Gerome Chavis demanded DeFreece not be allowed to vote in Tuesday’s meeting, and that she be removed immediately.
“She has changed her address at the Board of Elections and sold her house with no intent to go back,” Chavis said while handing out what he said was proof she was voting out of district.
The demand came at a meeting in which it was widely rumored that Superintendent Shanita Wooten would be removed from office. No vote was taken on Wooten’s dismissal, and DeFreece stood to announce her immediate resignation.
“I was glad that Ms. DeFreece did what she did,” Campbell said.
DeFreece could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Campbell said that after he was shown the documents related to DeFreece’s residency, he spoke to her and encouraged her to do the right thing.
“There was plenty of room for doubt about her residency,” Campbell said.
The information given him and presented during Tuesday’s school board meeting showed DeFreece had not lived in her home in District 1 since it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, Campbell said. Her home was flooded again by Hurricane Florence in September 2018, before the Matthew damage could be fully repaired.
The documents also showed that DeFreece sold her District 1 home in May and updated her voter registration information in August to show she lived in District 8, Campbell said.
Until the voter registration information was known, the fact that DeFreece lived outside District 1 was not an issue with the board, Campbell said. It was believed that DeFreece intended to move back into her District 1 residence, and law allows elected officials to live outside the precincts or districts they represent if they are displaced by a disaster, such as a hurricane, and intend to move back into the damaged home.
The school board’s own policy reads in part, “A member of the local board of education who changes residence such that he or she is no longer entitled to vote in an election for the office he or she holds is disqualified from continuing to hold the office.”
DeFreece’s resignation leaves the school board with 10 members.
Campbell intends to move quickly to fill the District 1 seat.
“I believe all districts deserve representation on the school board, that includes District 1,” he said.
He instructed board attorney Grady Hunt to research procedures used by other school boards to fill a suddenly vacated seat and report back to the members of the Robeson County Board of Education, Campbell said.
If needed the board will hold a special meeting, the chairman said. The goal is to find someone to serve the remainder of DeFreece’s current four-year term, which expires in July, as quickly as possible.
“I would like to select a new member during the next board meeting,” Campbell said.
The school board’s next meeting is Nov. 12.
As of now, there is an open invitation for people in District 1 to express their interest in filling the seat, Campbell said.
He was taking calls from interested people on Wednesday, Campbell said. He was taking down names and contact information, which will be shared with other board’s members.
It’s been about 2o years since the board has had to find someone to serve the unexpired portion of a member’s term, Campbell said. He believes the last time it happened led to Brenda Fairley-Ferebee joining the board in 1996.
The school board’s policy titled “2115 Unexpired Term Fulfillment” reads in part, “All vacancies in the membership of the board of education caused by death, resignation, or otherwise will be filled by a person appointed by the remaining members of the board to serve until the next election of board members, at which time the remaining unexpired term will be filled by election. In the case of a district seat vacancy, the board must appoint a resident of that district. In the case of an at-large seat vacancy, the board will appoint a resident of the county without regard to the districts.”
School board races are nonpartisan, and they are elected during political party primaries. The next primary is in March.
DeFreece won re-election in March 2016. She had served on the school board for 15 years.
“We appreciate Ms. DeFreece’s service to the board for the past 15 years and her service to the Public Schools of Robeson County for the 30 years prior,” Campbell said.
As she was announcing her resignation on Tuesday, DeFreece said, “I plan to run for an at-large seat on this board in 2020.”
