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Bulloch BOE starts 2025 with 3 new members, same chair
BOE Maurice Hill
Maurice Hill, left, District 8 Bulloch County Board of Education member and, with 20 years tenure, the longest-serving current member of the board, affirms the oath of office for another four-year term during a swearing-in ceremony at the start of the board's first meeting of the year, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. His daughter Moriah holds the Bible while Probate Judge Lorna DeLoach, right, recites the required words in the form a question. (HAYLEY GREENE/special)

Three new members — Lannie Lanier of District 1, Jennifer Campbell Mock of District 3 and Lisha Nevil of District 7 — joined the Bulloch County Board of Education with a swearing-in ceremony at the start of the Jan. 9 first meeting of 2025.

One member re-elected last year, Maurice Hill of District 8, was also sworn in for a new four-year term.

Then the eight-member board, choosing its leadership for the year, unanimously kept Elizabeth Williams as chair, continuing in that role from 2024, and unanimously chose Hill, the board’s longest-serving member, as vice chair.

Lannie Lanier, a now-retired county extension agent, first served on the board years ago. He has returned after Glenn Womack, who represented District 1 from the beginning of 2021 through 2024, chose not to seek re-election last year. Lanier then ran unopposed in the May nonpartisan election.

BOE Lannie Lanier
Lannie Lanier, left, is sworn in as the new Bulloch County Board of Education member from District 1 as his wife, Monica Lanier, holds the Bible and Bulloch County Probate Judge Lorna DeLoach, right, administers the oath of office. Lanier is returning to the school board after having served before in a previous decade. (HAYLEY GREEN/special)

Jennifer Campbell Mock, a local attorney, succeeds former District 3 board member Stuart Tedders, Ph.D., who served two four-year terms but also declined to seek re-election in 2024. A majority of District 3 voters chose Mock over another candidate in the May election.

Jennifer Mock BOE
Jennifer Campbell Mock, left, takes the oath of office as the new Bulloch County Board of Education member from District 3 as her husband, Jared Mock, holds the Bible and Probate Judge Lorna DeLoach, right, does the honors at the start of the board’s Jan. 9, 2025, organizational meeting. (HAYLEY GREENE/special)

Only Lisha Nevil, a retired teacher, joins the board after unseating an incumbent who sought re-election. Nevil won by a narrow margin of District 7 voters over previous member Heather Mims, who served two four-year terms and was vice chair again last year.

BOE Lisha Nevil
Lisha Nevil, left, takes the oath of office as the new Bulloch County Board of Education member from District 7 as her daughter Mallory holds the Bible and Probate Judge Lorna DeLoach, right, does the honors at the start of the board’s Jan. 9, 2025, organizational meeting. (HAYLEY GREENE/special)

Maurice Hill, the funeral home director/owner and minister, has served on the board 20 years and ran without opposition last year in District 8. He has served as vice chair before.

Upcoming BOE meetings

Besides choosing their chair and vice chair for the year, the board members during their Jan. 9 meeting adopted their meeting calendar for the year. Regular meetings will continue to be held twice monthly, each beginning at 6:30 p.m., usually on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

The first regular meeting of each month includes public comment time. The second meeting of each month is called a "work session" with time allotted for staff presentation and board roundtable discussion on a particular topic, but these are also open meetings where the public can watch and listen, and in which the board can vote on other matters on its agenda.

This month’s "work session" is set for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 23. The next month’s first meeting is scheduled for Feb. 13, and a work session for Feb. 27.

During last week’s meeting, Superintendent of Schools Charles Wilson gave the elected board members a brief summary of "board norms and protocols." Assistant superintendents provided a summary of the Bulloch County Schools’ strategic plan and a glance toward development, beginning in March, for the budget for fiscal year 2026, which starts July 1, 2025.

An assistant superintendent and a construction management contractor also provided a progress report on the complete replacement of Mattie Lively Elementary School’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, set to begin by spring.