COLOMBIA – A South Carolina lawmaker says she “will not be intimidated or silenced” by a demand that she publicly apologize for questioning the superintendent of schools in downtown Columbia during an online discussion about the impact of the pandemic on education.
Jamie Devine, chairman of the Richland One school board, accused Columbia Democratic MP Beth Bernstein of launching a “disrespectful and unnecessary” attack on Superintendent Craig Witherspoon during a December 15 webinar in which she was invited to participate. No school board member was on the call.
“Since this unfortunate situation has been made public, I expect a public apology,” he wrote in his December 18 letter to her.
Bernstein refused, saying that she did not do such a thing. Instead, it was Witherspoon who was rude and disrespectful to her for asking questions that she had been trying to get answers for months without success, she said.
Neither Devine nor Witherspoon responded immediately to requests for comment on Thursday.
Bernstein said Witherspoon took a similarly dismissive tone with her and Republican Party representative Kirkman Finlay during a virtual meeting organized on October 6 so they could ask him about the many concerns they were hearing from local parents. Bernstein said Witherspoon simply accused his parents of lying.
“I’m sorry you created this controversy,” she wrote to Devine on Wednesday. “These baseless attacks against me only further demonstrate why there is so much discontent in our community about District One.”
Richland One was one of the last school districts in the state to bring any students back to the classroom this fall. A hybrid mix of face-to-face and online learning started on Halloween week. The state’s ninth largest school district will return to virtual-only education for two weeks after the winter break ends on January 4.
Devine, a member of the Richland One school board since 2008, took over in December as president of the state School Councils Association.
His letter referred to a webinar sponsored by the Hunt Institute, an organization based in North Carolina that connects educators with local policymakers. Witherspoon and several lawmakers from the Columbia area were on the call, but no school board members.
“Your treatment of Dr. Witherspoon during this meeting is unacceptable,” wrote Devine. “Certainly, none of us would publicly punish a member of his team, privately or in public, and we would like to receive the same respect as the elected officials.”
During the call, Bernstein referred to a petition signed by 1,000 parents and sent to his office about his frustrations – the same petition she said the superintendent had previously rejected.
“I was surprised to be treated so harshly by him and I can understand why parents feel that their voices are not being heard,” she wrote in her response to Devine. She added that Witherspoon was also “rude and condescending to our legislative advisor, who is also a woman”, and who scheduled that October meeting.
She suggested that Devine’s time would be better spent addressing parents’ concerns.
“This behavior doesn’t even justify an apology. How about apologizing to the thousands of parents who haven’t heard their complaints? That’s where the apology needs to go, ”Bernstein told The Post and Courier on Thursday.
Bernstein said his voters deserve answers and that it is not normal for a state legislature’s office to be so bombarded with the decisions of local schools.
Finlay, a Columbia Republican, defended his colleague on Thursday, saying the concerns of Richland One’s parents are also filling his email inbox.
“A kind of cross between anger and frustration, feeling that your questions are unanswered and your voices are not being heard and your concerns are being summarily dismissed,” he said.
Bernstein rated his comments on the invite-only webinar as appropriate, considering the topic and his previous unanswered questions.
But fellow Democratic deputy Kambrell Garvin of Blythewood said the situation could have been handled differently.
The most appropriate way to resolve disagreements would be a meeting between Witherspoon, Devine and lawmakers, he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about children and making sure our kids are properly educated,” said Garvin.
Bernstein, who easily won a fifth term in November, said she had a high school relationship with Devine in the past, and her letter represents the first time.
“In fact, I have never, from anyone, been asked to make a public apology and I will never apologize for doing things on behalf of my constituents,” she said.
But the outbreak is not the first time that a Richland County legislature has refused to publicly apologize for being critical.
Asked to apologize for a “swearing speech with profanity” addressed to a legislator because of an item lost in a press release, state senator Dick Harpootlian agreed in December 2019 to keep his language clean in the future but he made it clear that he still believes that delegation officials are a waste of Richland County taxpayers’ money.
Stephen Fastenau contributed to this report.
Follow Adam Benson on Twitter @ AdamNewshound12.