CENTRE — Two teachers in the Cherokee County school system who sued Superintendent Brian Johnson and the individual members of the Board of Education received good and bad news in an order filed by a local circuit judge last month. 

Circuit Judge Randall L. Cole ruled that because of a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act by Johnson and the Board members, letters of reprimand placed in the files of the two teachers – Cherokee County Career and Technology Center Principal Mitchell Guice and Gaylesville teacher Brett Keasler – be “voided and held for naught.” 

Cole also threw out claims by Guice and Keasler for unspecified monetary damages based on charges of defamation and breach of contract. 

According to Judge Cole’s 11-page order, which was filed in the office of Circuit Clerk Dwayne Amos on Aug. 25, the lawsuit originated earlier this summer after Johnson moved to reprimand Guice and Keasler for allegedly lying under oath at a public hearing to discuss the transfer of another teacher. Johnson charged that both Guice and Keasler misrepresented conversations that had taken place with him in advance of the transfer of Paul Hyche from the Career and Technology Center to assistant principal at Gaylesville School.  

However, Cole ruled that proper procedures were not followed before the subsequent letters of reprimand were voted on and placed in Guice’s and Keasler’s permanent employment files. 

According to the judge’s order, Johnson informed Guice and Keasler on July 13, 2010 that they were to report to his office the following day for a Board meeting. When asked the purposed of the meeting, Johnson was noncommittal.  

When Guice and Keasler learned the following morning that they were being called before the Board to be reprimanded for lying under oath, Keasler went so far as to seek a continuance of the meeting until he could obtain legal counsel. His request was denied. 

In their lawsuit against Johnson and the Board, Guice and Keasler challenged that the Board’s failure to inform them of the purpose of the July 14 meeting, or to list an agenda or statement of purpose on a posted announcement of the meeting, violated the Open Meetings Act. 

Cole agreed, ruling there was ample evidence to prove that Johnson, acting on behalf of the Board, “disregarded the notice provisions” of the Open Meetings Act. 

Specifically, Cole ruled, the Board’s secretary was aware of the purpose of the meeting, but “she did not prepare an agenda because she did not know how to list the reprimands.” When she made Johnson aware of her uncertainty, Cole continued, “[Johnson] gave his approval and made no suggestion that she correct the omission.” 

Keasler told The Post he is happy with the outcome of the case. 

“I would like the people of Cherokee County to know that I never gave a false testimony as accused by the superintendent and I feel that Judge Cole’s decision is a step in the right direction of restoring me and my family,” Keasler said. 

Guice told WEIS-AM that he was pleased the judge realized proper procedures were not followed.

"Judge Cole ruled that Superintendent of Education Brian Johnson and Board members Lynn Rochester, Dewandee Neyman, Delbra Adams, Lisa McKissick, and Don Stowe did not follow the law and the reprimand must be removed from my file," he said.

Guice and Keasler also sought monetary damages, both from the Board as an entity, and from Johnson and all the members of the Board “in their official and individual capacities”. 

But Cole determined the accusations were unfounded and granted summary judgment to the defendants, ending the suit before it could reach the courtroom. 

“Mr. Guice and Mr. Keasler tried very hard to get the court to impose damages out of the individual pockets of the superintendent and board members,” read a statement released by Johnson on Sept. 8. “Fortunately, although the court set aside the reprimands, it also dismissed [their] claims for damages. In fact, the court said ‘there is no genuine issue of material fact to support such claims’.”