Patrice Jefferson of Clifton Forge has been appointed to the Clifton Forge West District seat on the Alleghany County School Board.
Jefferson was appointed to the seat by Alleghany County Circuit Court Judge Edward K. Stain.
She will fill the school board seat until a court case involving Donnie Kern is resolved. Judge Stein recently suspended Kern, pending the outcome of a petition by the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors to have him permanently removed from his school board seat. The county filed the petition in December.
Jefferson is a longtime employee of the Local Office on Aging in Covington. Her appointment gives the school board a full seven members. The school board met Monday with six members in the wake of Kern’s suspension.
Kern’s case shifted back to Alleghany County Circuit Court after he unsuccessfully tried to have it transferred to U.S. District Court in Roanoke. A special prosecutor seeking to have Kern from the school board accused Kern of carrying out delay tactics so he could serve his full four-year term.
Meanwhile, Kern is seeking election to the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 2. He is a candidate for the Clifton Forge West District seat.
Kern’s tenure on the school board was filled with controversies. In 2018 Kern allegedly used a slur describing mentally disabled students and in 2019 he accused the division of fraud.
In an election forum held earlier this month, Kern said his suspension from the school board in temporary and he would soon return to his seat.
At the forum, Kern said he running for the board of supervisors as an extension of his accomplishments on the school board.
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