Education

Recently Elected Brian Adams Resigns From Berkeley County School Board

by Nikki Gaskins Campbell
Pictured: Brian Adams
Pictured: Brian Adams

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Nearly five weeks after winning a seat on the Berkeley County School Board, Brian Adams has announced his resignation, citing South Carolina’s constitution as the reason.

“The facts to the circumstance are that I understood I could not hold the seat and be an officer at the same time due to an archaic state constitution still on the books to date,” stated Brian Adams, a North Charleston police officer, via social media.

Article XVII, Section 1 A of the South Carolina Constitution states that “no person may hold two offices of honor or profit at the same time.” According to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office,  a police officer would be considered an office holder for dual office holding purposes.

According to Adams,  prior to filing to run for the school board position he was able to obtain another job which he was scheduled to start prior to being sworn in on the school board. However, he later learned that the position had been delayed and that it would no longer be available until later.

“This puts me in a situation where I have to put my family first, making sure that they are taken care of. I attempted to work out the kinks, unfortunately, I have failed in doing so,” stated Adams.

Adams officially submitted his resignation letter to BCSD Chairwoman Sally Wofford on Tuesday.

“I want to apologize to everyone for this dilemma and wish I could have worked it out,” stated Adams. “It was not in malice nor did I attend on causing a distraction to the others on the school board or those living in the county or District 5.”

On November 8th, 2016, Adams beat out school retired educator David Barrow by a 58 to 40 percent margin for the position. Kathy Schwalbe, who had previously represented District 5, did not seek re-election. However, that didn’t stop her from taking to social media to discuss Adams’ situation before he officially announced his resignation.

“As an advocate for schools and children, I am eager to support his journey as a board member. However, there’s a problem. And, you need to know about it. Simply put, you don’t have a representative on the board right now,” she posted in the Goose Creek Resident Group and Forum on December 10th.

A special election is expected to be held March 28th to fill the seat, according to Adam Hammons, the county’s election director.

This is not Adam’s first nor second attempt at public office. He first jumped into politics in 2014 by running for Berkeley County Sheriff. However, he lost against longtime sheriff Wayne DeWitt. Following DeWitt’s arrest and resignation in 2015, he ran for sheriff a second time, losing to Duane Lewis, the former deputy chief of law enforcement for Santee Cooper.

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