Terri Smith was re-appointed

chairman of the Fayette County Board of Education in a called meeting

last Thursday night, but it wasn't unanimous.

Board Member Janet Smola cast

the lone vote against the reappointment, which Smith said on Friday came

as a surprise.

Marion Key made the motion

to reelect Smith for a second year, and Greg Powers seconded. Key was

re-appointed as vice-chair unanimously.

Smola announced Monday her

intentions to run for reelection to the Post 1 board seat next November

but denied her opposition to Smith's chairmanshiop was political

in nature.

"I love this job,"

she said. "I really do. I work with one of the most respected men

in education in this state, Dr. John DeCotis. I'm proud of what we've

accomplished as a board."

Smith is also up for reelection

this year, as is Marion Key, but neither have said what their plans are.

Qualifying in the partisan

contest is set for April.

"From the time I took

office, I've always believed there is tremendous benefit to rotating

the leadership position on the School Board," said Smola Monday.

In Smola's view, each

of the five elected members of the board should serve automatically on

an annual rotation, starting in the vice-chairman's seat and then

progressing to chairman, annually.

January marks the beginning

of Smola's final year of her first four-year term, but she said interest

in being named chairman herself had nothing to do with Monday's vote.

"When you take on the

role of chair, you are not only responsible for leading the meetings,

but also attending larger meetings wih the superintendent at the regional

and state level," Smola said. "One of my desires as leader of

this school system is to make this board as diverse as possible, and one

of the ways to do that is to rotate that position so at least you've

got different people on the board taking advantage of those opportunities."

The current process is flawed,

she said.

"This is very political

the way it's done now," said Smola, a professional fundraiser

who got her first taste of school district business in 1998 working to

pass a SPLOST intiative.

In other business Monday, the

board:

-�Agreed to hold regular

meeetings in 2004 on the third Monday of each month, and called workshop

sessions if needed on the first Tuesdays at 7 p.m.

- Heard an update on early

work on the 2005 budget, with DeCotis hinting that more cuts in state

funding are pending.

-�Approved the low-bid

on casement furnishings for outfitting the science labs and other classrooms

at Whitewater High School.