LAURINBURG — The Board of Education for Scotland County Schools has selected Loretta Rena McNeill as the person to assume the board seat made vacant by Herman Tyson.
After undergoing a 14-question interview during the school board’s open session on Monday, six of the seven board members — Rick Singletary, Carolyn Banks, Jason Clark, Vicki Jackson, Tony Spaulding and Summer Woodside — voted for McNeill. Board member Gary Mauk voted for Frances James Willis.
McNeill and Willis were among five applicants who placed their names in the running for the available board seat. Also interviewed were Ryan Spangler, Jacob Pate and Tabatha Burk.
“On behalf of our school board — and I really mean this from our heart — and that’s a sincere heartfelt thank you from this board for your expressing interest and serving as a servant into our community … There were some absolute excellent responses,” said Board Chair Rick Singletary.
McNeill, a retired US Army Veteran and local youth advocate, told board members she has a “passion for young people.”
“Seeing young people progress academically as well as in leadership, that’s been one of the strong points that I do possess and I’ve been doing it for over two decades,” McNeill said.
During her interview, McNeill said some of the issues Scotland County School face that she hopes to address are attrition, retention and literacy.
“We all know that we have some exceptional teachers (and) principals here in Scotland County … We have some exceptional brains and minds ready to be fed. My perception overall is that we pretty much have to work harder with our young people to let them understand the importance of education,” McNeill said.
McNeill said that she has spent the last 20 years working with youth in Scotland County, whether that be through leadership roles, volunteering, mentorship or assisting with academic scholarships. She said her role as a school board member would be simply to “line up with what the school’s role and upon doing that my vision is to basically have healthy engaged students in our county, working towards being successful in life.”
When asked what she would do to familiarize herself with the needs of her district and the greater school district as a whole, McNeill said she would meet with the school board to get a better understanding of where the school district is.
“From there I would go and look at what we have done (and) what we are working towards,” McNeill said.
According to the school district’s policy 2115 , the sitting board members have the authority to appoint a board member to fill an unexpired seat “caused by death, resignation or otherwise,” until the school board election.
Tyson announced his resignation via letter to the board’s chair Rick Singletary, the afternoon prior to the Jan. 8 board meeting, citing his moving outside the district as the cause for his action. The move came just weeks before the next school board election, where seats held by Singletary, Gary Mauk and Carolyn Banks were up for grabs.
Tyson was appointed to the Board of Education Stewartsville Township in July 2017 to fill the remaining term of then-board member Darrell “BJ” Gibson. He ran for election in 2018 and was elected to the Board of Education. Tyson’s term expires in December of 2026.
After the vote, McNeill was sworn into the role and immediately took her place representing the Stewartsville Township.
“You’re absolutely coming to replace a gentleman that has done an outstanding job on our school board … We’re asking you to come in and fit in where he’s left off but we gotta keep going and we don’t have time to wait,” Singletary said.
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