HeadlinesSC

SC School Board Member Resigns After Racial Slur

Florence County school board member called black colleagues “darkies …”

A member of a government-run school district in Florence County, South Carolina has resigned after using a racial slur in an email to a district employee.

Glenn Odom stepped down on October 2 as a member of the Florence County School District 1 after referring to black members of the school board as “darkies” in the email, which was sent on August 29.

“Would you be so kind as to send an email out to the Board asking if I could get a ride?” Odom wrote to district employee Kim Hoffman.  “Just don’t send it to the darkies.”

Whoa …

In a follow-up email, Odom wrote “that was in jest about the darkies,” adding that he simply did not want the request to be forwarded to his fellow board member, Alexis Pipkins, Sr.

Take a look …

(Click to view)

(Via: Provided)

According to reporter Rebecca Cross of The Florence Morning News, Odom has apologized for his remarks.

“It was a mistake,” Odom told Cross. “I should not have done it.”

Odom has also apologized to his fellow board members, although Pipkins reportedly wouldn’t take his phone call.

Our view?

Odom made a terribly stupid comment – not only that, he did it on taxpayer time using taxpayer resources.  It was a wise move for him to resign.  As for Pipkins, as offend as he is (and rightfully so) – it is terrible karma (and terrible PR) to refuse an apology.

Anyway … can we now get back to the real issue here?  Namely, the hundreds of failure factories across the state that school boards like this one oversee?

***

WANNA SOUND OFF?

Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our stories? Please feel free to submit your own guest column or letter to the editor via-email HERE. Got a tip for us? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question? CLICK HERE. Want to support what we’re doing? SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Banner via iStock


Related posts

SC

Midlands SC Community Mourns Beloved School Official

Will Folks
SC

South Carolina Mayor Dead Following Car Crash

Will Folks
SC

Palmetto Past & Present: How Columbia Became the Confederacy’s Currency Capital

Mark Powell

Leave a Comment