Interim finance director tapped to take on the job full-time for school system

The Nash County Board of Education proceeded smoothly through Monday afternoon’s called meeting, with routine contracts being approved unanimously without issue. That was until the school board went into and then came out of executive session to vote on personnel matters.

School board member Chris Bissette said, for him, there was only one objectionable item in the six pages of personnel requests submitted to the 11-member school board. The one item that caused him and a handful of other school board members to balk was the appointment of Interim Finance Director Shanice Sanders to be the school system’s next finance director.

In a phone interview following the meeting, Bissette said he had nothing disparaging to say about Sanders or her work. But he did take exception to Superintendent Steve Ellis having the authority to appoint Sanders to the position. Bissette explained under state law the school system’s finance officer position is the one job that all public schools superintendents have the right to appoint.

“I did not agree with appointment of the finance director,” Bissette noted. “I don’t like the appointment of any position. I like a true (competitive) process. I don’t like giving someone an appointment.”

In the final vote Monday, the board voted 6-5 in favor of approving all the staff’s personnel recommendations. Initially, school board member Evelyn Bulluck abstained from voting but was informed by the board’s attorney, Jason Weber, there was no valid reason to prevent her from entering an up or down vote. The first vote was recorded as a 5-5 tie with one abstention.

Bulluck later changed her vote to a “yes.” Also voting in favor of the personnel recommendations were school board members Bill Sharpe, Zack Gray, Sharonda Bulluck, Franklin Lamm and Lank Dutton.

In addition to Bissette, board members Richard Jenkins, Dean Edwards, Doneva Chavis and LaShawnda Washington voted against the motion to approve all the personnel recommendations submitted to the board.

Explaining why she initially abstained from voting, Evelyn Bulluck said it was her understanding that the superintendent had the right to appoint one position and had exercised that right.

“I don’t really want to vote no simply because I’m not in favor of one of the positions. With that being said, that position that I’m not in favor of is the only position the superintendent has the authority to appoint,” Bulluck stated in the meeting.

Bulluck also noted that a “no” vote would not prevent Ellis from exercising his right to appoint someone to that position.

With the finance director’s position being one that is appointed by the superintendent, Bissette said it denied the rights of other school district employees and job seekers outside of the school district to apply for that position in a fair and competitive process. In his opinion, none of the jobs at the Nash County Public Schools should be appointed positions.