Dr. Doug Atkins New South Carolina School Boards Association Region 11Board Director

Dr. Doug Atkins, a member of the Anderson One School Board, was elected to the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCSBA) Board of Directors as the Region 11 Director during the association’s annual business meeting held on December 1. Region 11 represents Abbeville, Anderson 1, 2, and 3; Edgefield, Greenwood 50, 51, and 52; McCormick and Saluda School Districts.

The annual business meeting, which was held during the association’s Legislative Advocacy Conference, included voting delegates from most of the state’s 81 school boards. In addition to the election of association officers, delegates adopt resolutions to guide the association during the 2013 legislative session.

Atkins was elected to the Anderson One board in 2006. He is a retired educator, having worked as a teacher, coach and school administrator in South Carolina and in Georigia. He serves on the Anderson County Career and Technology Center Board and is a past board member of the Anderson County Alternative School and a past president of the state AA athletic conference. Dr. Atkins was the 1998 SC Counseling Association’s State Administrator of the the year.

Dr. Wayne Fowler, Superintendent of Anderson School District One shared, “As a director, Dr. Atkins will bring a strong knowledge of public school education to the SCSBA.  He has been a leader at every level of administration as well as an experienced school board member in Anderson One.  Dr. Atkins will keep the focus of the state on the needs of our students.”

A member of the Pelzer Masonic Lodge and a member of Whitefield Baptist Church, Atkins and his wife, Rita, have two children and three grandsons.

In addition to Atkins, the following officers elected to lead the association’s board of directors for a one-year term are as follows:

• President, John Hughes, Marion County School Board

 The following school board members were elected to serve a four-year term on the 22-member board of directors as regional directors:

• Region 2 Director, Craig Ascue, Charleston County School Board

• Region 4 Director, Betty Jo Johnson, Dillon Three School Board

The South Carolina School Boards Association is a non-profit organization serving as a source of information and a statewide voice for boards governing the 81 school districts.