After accusations of unprofessional conduct, 2 longtime SC educators resign

The longtime director of a Spartanburg County school faces the possible revocation of her teaching certificate after board members heard allegations of dishonesty, creating a hostile work environment and making profane and inappropriate comments during a board meeting Wednesday.

The board of RD Anderson Applied Technology Center announced Wednesday night that Sherri Yarborough’s resignation had been accepted, She had been placed on administrative leave on Sept. 11.

“Certain allegations have also been turned over to law enforcement in the event that further investigation is necessary,” the board announced in a statement signed by three superintendents, Rallie Liston of Spartanburg School District Four, Randall Gary of Spartanburg School District Five and Darryl Owings of Spartanburg School District Six.

The news release did not specify what the allegations turned over to law enforcement were.

RD Anderson is a career center that serves the high schools from all three districts — Byrnes, Dorman and Woodruff.

The board also voted to accept the resignation of Assistant Director Bobby Edwards for unauthorized removal of a district device and digital content while the investigation was under way. The board said it will recommend his certificate be suspended and or revoked by the state Department of Education.

Both Yarborough and Edwards resigned after being placed on leave for unprofessional conduct. Yarborough was placed on leave on Sept. 11, Edwards Sept. 15.

Yarborough has been director of the career center since 2004.

Edwards has worked at the Moore, South Carolina, school for four years, according to his page on the school’s website.

“RD Anderson has a positive reputation in the community and will continue to serve students preparing them for Career and Technical education,” the board said in a statement released Wednesday night.

Yarborough, a native of Ware Shoals, began as a high school business teacher and coached basketball, softball and volleyball. Her father was also an educator, according to a profile published in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal in 2008.

In that article she was quoted as saying the best advice she ever received was to “consult God with every decision you make.”

In June, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for the South Carolina Association of Career and Technology.

In 2016, Yarborough contacted law enforcement about a teacher at the career center who sent inappropriate messages to a student, according to a 2016 story in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Yarbrough told the newspaper after she told the teacher she was recommending his termination, he resigned.

Edwards was previously a middle school teacher in Spartanburg District 6.