Florence School Board Needs a House Cleaning

 

The Florence School Board has long been criticized as being unresponsive to the citizens. During its last meeting, with only two weeks to go before the election, it voted Dr. Jimmy Shaw a four year extension on his contract. In other words, the 2025-2029 board will have no say in matter. 

While we support Dr. Shaw, the board was totally out of line, perhaps realizing this would be the last snub in its current configuration? Voters have the chance to replace four of the six members on August 26th. Our choices are listed in bold.

Florence City School Board Candidates

District 1: Vicky Kirkman

District 2: Robert “Ry” Griffin, John Williams

District 3: Lynn Sparks, Jennifer Spry

District 4: MaLeah Chaney, Robin Thompson, Tom Wissert

District 5: Tammie Davis Haddock

District 6: Casey Wilburn, Rachel Winston

Jim Fisher Resigns--Florence Loses

We receive, on average, five comments/questions a day. Some days we receive a great deal more due to whatever topic makes the news. We certainly received several comments on the recent raise that the Florence School Board gave Dr. Janet Womack, superintendent.

Apparently board member Jim Fisher did also; he published his rationale for voting for the raise--on Facebook. We asked Jim if we could use his material, but it had been removed by the time we got around to it. Should he have posted it? We say yes. After all, would you rather a school board member, or any other elected official, simply say how he votes is none of your/our business?

We don't know the other Florence board members personally; however, it's difficult to imagine that any could care more about the system than our friend Jim. It's Florence's loss.

*****

Shoalanda

Braly: Stadium with a Future?

Thomas Braly Jr. was principal of Coffee High School from 1945 until his sudden death in 1963. When he began his tenure at the end of WWII, Florence's largest school was housed in the old Appleby building on Hermitage Drive, now the site of tennis courts. Almost immediately Braly and the Board of Education began plans for a larger, much needed replacement, and Coffee moved to its new plant in the late 1940s while construction on several buildings was still incomplete.

The stadium located off Royal Avenue became the jewel in the school's crown. Known simply as Coffee Stadium, it stood relatively unchanged until Tom Braly's untimely death to a heart attack. Seeking to honor the late educator, the Board changed the name to Tom Braly Jr. Stadium, a designation it partially retains today.

Serving as the home field for what was then called Florence State College, the stadium was already showing wear and tear by 1967. That year a surge of baby boomers and influx of students from the county necessitated the creation of Henry A. Bradshaw High School, adding still a third institution to call Braly its home field.

The Florence Board of Education wisely let the City of Florence take over part of the stadium's upkeep, and Tom Braly Municipal Stadium was born. Now 40 years later, these same entities must decide the fate of Braly stadium in a time of unprecedented economic downturn.

Tomorrow: Does Florence Need a New Stadium?