Augusta County School Board reprimands Chair Nick Collins

VERONA — Following an outburst at a candidate forum in October, Nick Collins was asked to step down as chair of the Augusta County School Board by fellow board member Tim Simmons.

Collins refused to step down, leading to a called meeting of the board Thursday night ahead of the regularly scheduled meeting. The meeting was originally scheduled to be closed, but Collins decided to open it to the public.

At the forum Oct. 16, as Collins tried to answer questions from a moderator, two people in the audience continued to interrupt him. Eventually, Collins pounded the table and shouted, "How about shutting up, lady."

The board voted 5-1 Thursday to issue a formal reprimand for his conduct. Collins abstained from the vote while Tim Simmons voted against it.

Sitting in his vehicle, window down as he prepared to drive out of the parking lot, Collins was asked by The News Leader what a formal reprimand does.

"It tells me they're disappointed in my performance," Collins said.

It doesn't seem to do much more than that. Collins remains chair of the school board and oversaw the regular business meeting later Thursday night.

Simmons voted against the reprimand, saying he had no idea what a formal reprimand involves. He felt like other board members had discussed this ahead of time, excluding him from those conversations.

"I'm not going to vote for something I have no indication of what we're even doing here," Simmons said. "I think that's unfair that they're going to be communicating with each other privately and exclude me. But that's their decision, that's their choice. If this board flips I won't treat them the same way."

Simmons was referring to Tuesday's general election when three incumbents, including Collins, are being challenged. The three challengers seem to be more aligned politically with Simmons which could bring big changes to how the board operates.

Collins said he had no conversations with anyone about what would happen Thursday night, saying the motion read by board member Donna Wells to formally reprimand him was not something he had discussed with anyone prior to the meeting.

"I had no influence on what they were going to do," Collins told The News Leader. "I had no idea what Donna was going to read."

It's unclear who wrote the motion or how the board decided to take the route of a reprimand.

During the called meeting, after the vote, Simmons asked Collins if he was going to apologize.

"No sir," Collins responded. Later in the meeting he did say he should have used a "different choice of words."

Riverheads District representative John Ward said he watched the video of the forum and he felt there was an apology that should be made, but not from Collins.

"From those who sponsored the forum without establishing boundaries to keep control during that meeting," Ward said. "This would be the Victory Worship Center and The Staunton News Leader."

The News Leader was a co-sponsor of the event.

Ward said it was the responsibility of those sponsoring the forum to control the audience, to which Simmons responded that Ward's comments weren't appropriate.

"You're deflecting," Simmons said. "Mr. Collins is responsible for his own actions. This is ridiculous."

Ward said that it wasn't ridiculous because "twice Mr. Collins laid that microphone down and deferred to the moderator and nothing was done to bring that under control."

Ward's comments weren't entirely accurate. Collins laid his microphone down and let the moderator handle the situation after he yelled at the woman. And within 30 seconds of the confrontation an Augusta County Sheriff's Deputy intervened, calming the woman down.

David Shiflett, who represents the Middle River District, said he didn't excuse Collins for his behavior, but it was just as much the woman's fault.

"It's a sad commentary on our society when we cannot have a civil discussion," Shiflett said. "I think the public has a certain responsibility to at least be civil and allow people to speak."

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— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta County School Board reprimands Chair Nick Collins