Chester school board member resigns; special election planned

Chester County school board member Richard Hughes has resigned, and a May 24 special election is planned to fill his at-large seat, officials said.

Hughes, who holds the only at-large seat on the seven-member board, last week submitted his resignation for “personal reasons,” said Terry Graham, director of Chester County elections and voter registration.

Hughes could be not reached for comment Monday.

Graham said Hughes will hold the seat until May 25, when the new board member will be sworn in to a four-year term.

He said filing for the special election will open at noon March 14 and continue until noon March 25.

Board chairman Eugene Boyd said he had not talked with Hughes, but said the resignation was unexpected. “I’m not sure what personal reasons would cause him to resign from the board,” Boyd said.

Boyd noted that the board has had differences. The board was divided in votes on major decisions last year in the forced resignation of former Superintendent Agnes Slayman. That was followed by a four-month period of leadership by interim superintendent Keith Callicutt.

The board’s current interim superintendent, Angela Bain, was named in a unanimous board vote last month.

Bain was hired after Callicutt resigned in January, saying that he had failed to help the district move forward and that he was “not the right person for the job.”

Boyd said the turmoil over the past year has “caused a lot of differences on the board.”

However, Boyd said, “Dr. Hughes has always been a champion for the children. He has always been a positive person on the board for the children.”

Boyd said the board has made efforts to move forward.

“It’s been going well so far,” Boyd said. “We’ve been moving forward, getting everything going on in the district behind us.”

Graham said Hughes was sworn into the at-large seat in January 2015, after former board member Bill Stringfellow challenged Hughes’ November 2014 election. Graham said the challenge was denied at the county and state level.

Hughes had previously served on the board from 2006 to 2010, when he lost the seat to Stringfellow.

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This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Chester school board member resigns; special election planned."