Hal Floyd resigns from Polk BOE after discovery of nepotism rule
The Polk County Board of Education likely will be holding a special election in November to fill the seat.
CEDARTOWN — The Polk County Board of Education will need a new member, and likely will be holding a special election in November to fill the seat now vacated by just-elected Hal Floyd.
Floyd, who ran and won the District 6 primary against former board member and then chair Harold McDurmon, stepped down from the school board and explained his reasons in a four page letter during the Tuesday evening Board of Education work session.
He said this morning in a brief interview that he would continue to do his best to help the people of Polk County, and hoped he might be able to work to find a like-minded successor to fill his seat. Floyd resigned after his daughter-in-law, now the assistant principal at Rockmart High School, discovered a newly updated state and local nepotism policy that he said in his letter wasn’t previously presented to Polk School District officials by former Superintendent William Hunter.
The rule updates the classification of immediate family, and with it his daughter-in-law’s promotion to administration fell under the new nepotism rule.
“At the time of my election, and during the first six months of my term, this was not an issue,” Floyd’s letter stated. “However, after the discovery of the change in the ruling, and the approval of my daughter -in-law as the new assistant principal of Rockmart High School, it became a matter of concern, investigation and clarification. I abstained from voting on the hiring of my daughter-in-law and therefore had no voice or sway over her hiring. That was the right thing to do, regardless of how it may turn out.”
He added that once he was notified of the policy, and discussed it with both the Board of Education’s attorney and an independent attorney, they both gave the opinion that he should step down. Floyd sat on the policy and personnel committees for the Board of Education prior to his stepping down on Tuesday night. With his resignation, the Board of Education will require calling for a special election in November to fill the District 6 seat, which sits in the Rockmart area.
Elections Director Karen Garmon said that she and the Polk School District are still working out details of the election itself, and that she’ll be announcing more about the plans ahead for qualifying for interested candidates as information becomes available.