On Aug. 15, 2018, the Clarke County School District Board of Education holds a meeting at the Athens Career Academy. All the district representatives are present except for District 2 representative Vernon Payne. “He was not only a dedicated board member; he loved it. He really loved it because it was all about educating children. And I can tell you I learned a whole bunch of things from (Payne),” District 6 representative Charles Worthy said. Photo by Ana Aldridge
On Jan. 10 at a Clarke County School District Board of Education meeting, the president of the board and District four representative Jared Bybee announced that Vernon Payne, District 2 representative had formally resigned from his seat on the board.
On Dec. 28, 2018, Clarke County School District Board of Education District two representative Vernon Payne submitted his letter of resignation to Superintendent Dr. Demond Means and former Governor of Georgia Nathan Deal.
Payne’s resignation was formally announced to the board at a meeting on Jan. 10. by President of the Board and District 4 representative Jared Bybee.
“I have come to a realization that it is in the best interest of our precious youth’s education that I step down due to health reasons,” Payne stated in an email sent out to the CCSD community.
According to the CCSD Board of Education District 6 representative Charles Worthy, Payne had not attended a meeting since last March, so his resignation did not come as a surprise.
“It was not unexpected because he had not been able to attend a board meeting since March of 2018. His health would just not allow him to do that,” Worthy said.
Payne was the representative for District 2 on the CCSD Board of Education for more than 40 years. He has also served various leadership roles in the Clarke County School District for many years as well. He was active in the Georgia School Board Association serving as the representative for District 11.
Charles Worthy enjoyed his time working with Payne on the board.
“It was a joy working with Mr. Payne. He had a wealth of knowledge about the school board and serving on the school board,” Worthy said.
The deadline for the application for District 2 representative is Feb. 14 and the Board will vote on the next representative to fill Payne’s seat on Feb. 21. The new representative will fill the vacant seat until Payne’s term ends in 2020.
“This is 100 percent the boards’ job to fill (the seat), set up a process to vote and to select someone to sit in this seat,” Bybee said at the Board meeting on Jan. 17.
