After perhaps the most difficult year in its history, the Henry County Board of Education will enter 2021 with new challenges, but without a familiar face.

Josh Hinton has wrapped up nine years on the board, the past two as chairman. He was appointed as the District 2 representative in early 2012 when Brian Preston stepped down to accept an appointment to the Henry County Board of Commissioners. Hinton then won that fall’s election without a runoff against three challengers, and in 2016 he got 63 percent of the vote to secure another term.

But he was swept up in the blue wave that crashed over Henry County during the 2020 elections. While school board seats are technically non-partisan, a look at the numbers leaves no doubt that political parties played a role.

In the general primary last June, Hinton received 5,735 votes or 45.6 percent of the total against three challengers. Falling short of the majority needed to win the race outright, he was forced into a runoff against second-place Makenzie McDaniel, who had almost exactly half as many votes as Hinton (2,886).

When voters returned to the polls in August, the only other race on the ballot was the Democratic runoff for sheriff. McDaniel received slightly fewer votes this time with 2,539. But with two-thirds of his primary voters staying home, Hinton managed only 1,803 votes – less than one-third of what he got the first time.

But he said in a phone interview with the Times that he is happy for himself as well as for McDaniel. On a personal level, he is looking forward to the additional time he will have for his family and his business.

Reflecting on his tenure, he is pleased with the board’s accomplishments in a variety of areas. He cited Hampton High School’s opening in his district along with the newer McDonough Middle and High schools as well as the new performing arts center in Fairview. The Academy for Advanced Studies has been expanded and all of the schools in the district have seen physical improvements.

Technology upgrades in and out of the classroom along with numerous security enhancements have also come about in recent years. Hinton noted unprecedented gains in overall student achievement and the highest graduation rate in district history, with consistent gains every year he was in office. The board as a whole has been recognized for its performance at the state level more than once during that time.

“There have been a lot of great things,” he said. “There have also been a lot of tough times.”

Hinton immediately recalled two issues that stand out as far as difficulty. The toughest decision he had a part in making was the move to outsource custodial work for the district as a cost-cutting measure. Most of the workers remain on the job today, but with a different employer. At the time, it was an emotional issue that weighted heavily on the board members.

An easy decision for Hinton was the vote to reject Timothy Gadson as a candidate for superintendent in 2017. He made clear his opposition to the decision by the rest of the board that Gadson be named the sole finalist for the job to succeed retiring superintendent Rodney Bowler. Within a month, that offer was rescinded in response to then-unprecedented salary demands by Gadson, who is black. But numerous community members ignored that issue and chose to play the race card when criticizing the board during several heated public meetings.

“That wasn’t a tough decision at all,” Hinton said of the choice not to hire Gadson. “But it was a tough time to be on the board, knowing that I grew up in this county and was having to get a police escort home from the meetings.”

Gadson sued the district, and in 2020 he received an $800,000 settlement from the board’s insurance company. The board members had no input in that decision, Hinton confirmed. [Gadson] didn’t deserve one penny,” he said.

It was yet another example of what goes into operating a school district the size of Henry County’s, where board rulings routinely affect the daily lives of at least 50,000 people.

“People don’t realize that for just about everything you do, you have to get a permission slip from an attorney,” said Hinton. “I don’t make a decision thinking only about the employees or only about the students. When you have 6,000 employees and 43,000 kids, you can’t. There are so many moving parts in an organization with a $400 million budget. When moving huge pieces on the board, you have to learn not to sweat the small stuff. You let the teacher worry about the class and let the principal worry about the school.”

In that regard, Hinton said that recent policy changes within the district make it difficult if not impossible for board members to bypass the superintendent and meddle in the decisions of administrators, as some who are no longer on the board have done.

Of course, 2020 brought about things that no one would have ever predicted. The decision in August to begin the school year in full remote learning was another tough one. The board was unanimous in approving the administration’s overall plan for that, although Hinton said publicly that he opposed having students wear masks the entire school day. He is sure that a large number of students have remained in remote learning voluntarily because of the mask mandate.

While every board member has plenty on his or her plate, Hinton learned the past two years that being chairman is a different matter altogether.

“It is is a whole other level of responsibility,” he said. “You are the first and last person the superintendent calls.”

He plans to enjoy 2021 without that kind of responsibility. His wife and their small children (their oldest has just started school) will also appreciate the extra free time.

“I’m happy for myself, and I’m happy for Makenzie,” he said. “I’m worried about the school system.”

He expressed particular concern about some of McDaniel’s public statements during the campaign. He cited one instance in which McDaniel was asked how he would help unify the board, to which he replied that his job was to disrupt the board, not unify it.

“I have learned that you can disagree,” said Hinton. “But if you are there to be a disrupter, the organization will stall at best, or move backward.”