Berkeley County (S.C.) school board fires superintendent

The Berkeley County (S.C.) school board has fired its superintendent, Deon Jackson after only 16 months on the job.

Without an explanation to patrons at the meeting, the board voted 6-3 to fire the superintendent, reports The Post and Courier.

Six of the board members were endorsed by the Berkeley County Republican Party. Those same six voted to fire Jackson, as well as the board’s in-house counsel Tiffany Richardson.

Board chair Mac McQuillin and other board members declined to publicly say why they fired Jackson and Richardson. McQuillin said he would not discuss personnel matters in open session.

Parents, teachers, librarians and other staff members jeered at the school board as it moved to fire Jackson.

Jackson became the district’s first Black superintendent in May 2021. He worked at the district for more than a decade, serving as a coach, teacher, assistant principal and as the first principal of Cane Bay Middle School.

To replace Jackson, the board opted against a superintendent search and voted immediately to hire Anthony Dixon, chief of schools in the Charleston County (S.C.) district.

The Berkeley district serves about 40,000 students.