‘Embarrassing,’ ‘sickening.’ NC school board member reprimanded for inappropriate texts

Johnston County school board member Ronald Johnson was reprimanded Thursday for sending multiple texts to the former board attorney during board meetings about wanting to have a relationship with a female school employee.

At a special session Thursday, the Johnston County school board voted 6-1 to censure Johnson after an investigation into text messages from 2019 showed he sent messages about the appearance of a female school employee in the board room.

It was his second censure within the past two months. Johnson was the lone vote against his censure.

“This is not the kind of behavior that we want our children to grow up thinking is OK,” said board vice chairwoman Terri Sessoms.

In one text exchange with then-school board attorney Jimmy Lawrence, Johnson texted about the employee “wearing the hell out of that blue dress” and “I’m feeling a relationship.” At another meeting, Johnson texted “open invitation to the one in purple” when he saw the employee again in the audience.

The new allegations come after Johnson was already accused of violating board policy by secretly recording conversations among board members. He also is accused of trying to have two special-education students removed from a school due to his personal issues with a parent.

Johnson apologized on Thursday for the text messages, saying he had apologized previously to the employee and had become friends with her after the texts. Johnson said they’re no longer friends.

“It was a lapse of judgment and I sought her out to tell her and make it right,” Johnson said. “We became very close, like brother and sister.”

In August, Johnson rejected the board’s demand to resign when they censured him.

‘Sickening’ behavior

Board members on Thursday accused Johnson of engaging in “deplorable” behavior that will make female employees uncomfortable about appearing at meetings.

Board chairman Todd Sutton said it was “absolutely ridiculous” and “sickening” for Johnson to have sent those texts during board meetings. Sutton said he had requested the investigation after the female employee contacted him in August after seeing the texts on a Facebook Live show.

“This is embarrassing,” Sutton said. “There is no place for this in this board room or anywhere else in society.”

Ken Soo, an attorney for Tharrington Smith, the board’s attorney, said in a memo that Johnson’s actions violated the district’s ethics policy.

Thursday’s meeting came amid questions about Johnson’s status as a Smithfield Police Department detective. Johnson was placed on administrative leave on July 5 while Smithfield Police conducted an internal investigation.

Lt. T.W. West, a Smithfield Police spokesman, said Thursday in an email that the investigation into Johnson is ongoing. But West did not answer whether Johnson is still employed by the Police Department, saying it’s a personnel matter.

Johnson was the top vote-getter in the 2020 school board election. His term is scheduled to run until 2024.

‘I’m feeling a relationship’

The investigation uncovered texts at two school board meetings between Johnson and Lawrence.

School board member Lyn Andrews read the texts aloud during the meeting Thursday.

Here is a transcript of the messages from the board meeting on April 9, 2019:

Johnson: “She’s wearing the hell out of that blue dress.”

Lawrence: “I’m glad you haven’t lost your ‘vision.’”

Johnson: “I’m feeling a relationship.”

Lawrence: “Is that all?”

Johnson: “I’m ready right now.”

Laurence: “You stay on ready.”

These are text messages from the board meeting May 14, 2019:

Johnson: “Open invitation to the one in the purple.”

Lawrence: “Shame on you, she’s a mother. Aside from that, I agree.”

Andrews said it was “pitiful” that Johnson had sent them.

“This is sad that we’ve got board members that are talking about having a relationship with somebody who’s out there in the audience,” Andrews said. “If that’s not going against everything that the citizens of Johnston County have placed us in this seat for, I don’t what is.”

Johnson said that he later showed the texts to the employee and that it became a running joke between the two of them.

Rod Malone, an attorney for Tharrington Smith, said the employee, who wasn’t named in the investigation, said she hadn’t seen the texts until recently.

Investigation into ethics violations

The board had previously directed attorneys at Tharrington Smith to look into an allegation that Johnson had secretly recorded a board discussion during a closed session on May 31, when members were talking about administrator salaries. Johnson was accused of later playing part of the recording for an employee whose salary was being discussed.

North Carolina law doesn’t require both parties to give consent to record conversations. But the board’s ethics policy prohibits members from making recordings about school board business.

In their August report to the board, attorneys said the evidence they gathered by speaking to board members, staff members and administrators indicated that Johnson had secretly recorded a portion of the meeting.

The attorneys also said that Johnson had admitted during their investigation that he recorded conversations among board members on about 10 occasions since January.

Johnson provided two school board candidates with a secretly recorded conversation that they say shows the district tried to hide public funds from the Johnston County Board of Commissioners. The school district denies the allegation.

Attorneys also looked into whether Johnson tried to remove two special-education students from their assigned school.

The principal at the school, which was not identified in the report to board members, told attorneys that Johnson had asked him to remove the students as a personal favor, due to issues between Johnson and one of the parents. According to the report, attorneys asked to interview Johnson about the incident at least twice, but did not hear back from him.

In response, the board unanimously voted Aug. 24 to censure Johnson and to ask Johnston County District Attorney Susan Doyle to try to remove him from office if Johnson did not resign.

The board voted 6-1 on Thursday to send a copy of the new censure resolution to Doyle. Johnson was the lone no vote.

“I’m embarrassed for our employees that have to continue to see us come in this board room for special sessions when we don’t need to be here,” Sutton said Thursday.

Speakers on Johnson

At the Sept. 13 board meeting, multiple speakers came to praise or criticize the school board for trying to remove Johnson.

“I wanted to thank the board for the censureship that you guys put forward for Ronald Johnson because that distraction needs to absolutely, positively be taken care of,” Jamie Stoltz told the board. “We need to focus back on the students and the grades, and of course the teachers, too.”

But some speakers accused the board of engaging in a “witch hunt” and demanded that they halt their efforts to remove Johnson.

“I remind this board that the residents of this county overwhelmingly voted for Ron in 2020 and would do so again today,” said Dale Lands, founder of Citizen Advocates for Accountable Government. “We want and need Ronald Johnson on this board for the good of our kids.”

Avi Bajpai contributed to this story.

Investigation into Johnston County school board member's inapprpriate texts by Keung Hui on Scribd