Residents press Florence 1 board on school bullying response and board member residency

Several residents used public comment at the Florence 1 Board of Trustees meeting to press the district on responses to student bullying, demands for accountability and to question whether two trustees live outside the districts they represent.

Traquetta Graham, a parent who identified herself during public comment, told the board her daughter has been bullied at Moore Middle School since last year and said the superintendent's office did not follow up after she filed a written statement. "I spoke with the assistant superintendent ... he did talk with me, but did not get back with me within the 2 weeks after that," Graham said, describing ongoing effects on her child's mental health.

Why it matters: Public commenters asked the board to change how it handles follow-up after complaints and to increase anti-bullying measures; trustees did not offer a public remediation plan during the comment period, but the superintendent's report later addressed related supports for immersion families.

Other public comments

- Barbara Martin Moses told the board she was concerned about board governance and called for a review of residency requirements, saying two board members "do not live in the prospective district that they are serving under." Moses also urged enforcement of board policies concerning residence and questioned why criminal investigations related to misuse of funds had not produced recoveries. She said one board member had been arrested in Berkeley County and asked why that member had been allowed to return to serve on the board.

- Charles P. Fox urged the board to restore more direct responses to speakers, saying public participation forms imply a reply is optional and asserting that recent administrations responded to public comment more frequently than the current superintendent does.

Board response and context

The board did not take immediate action during the public comment period. Later in the meeting the superintendent and trustees continued with scheduled reports and action items. The transcript records the concerns but does not record an explicit board pledge to the specific remedies requested during public comment.

Clarifying note: The allegations about board member residency and arrest were made by a public speaker and attributed in this report as such; the transcript does not include an independent verification of those claims and the board did not make a formal statement on those allegations during the meeting.