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Tuckahoe District School Board member Lisa Marshall, the district's representative since 2008, will resign her position Aug. 21 for health reasons, she announced today.
Marshall was diagnosed with breast cancer in February and had successful surgery several weeks ago, she said. Though her prognosis for recovery is good, she said she does not have the energy to attend to her health, her full-time job and the demands of the School Board position.
"I had hoped to serve out the remainder of my School Board term," she wrote in a letter to fellow board members. "However, it became clear after attending our Aug. 9, 2018 School Board meeting that I simply do not have the energy and stamina required to fully represent the Tuckahoe District. My energy must be focused on restoring my health and my full-time employment.
“It has been my great honor and privilege to serve the Tuckahoe District for the past 11 years alongside you for some, or in Mr. [John] Montgomery’s case, all of those years. I will cherish our friendship and the excellent working relationship I had with wonderful Division Leadership Team members and so many HCPS employees.”
Marshall's diagnosis came at about the same time former Superintendent Pat Kinlaw announced his retirement, and Marshall said she wanted to remain on the board through the selection of a new superintendent to ensure that her district was fully represented.
"My efforts were rewarded in our excellent selection of Superintendent Amy Cashwell who I know will well serve HCPS," she wrote.
Marshall first was elected to the Board in 2007. She was re-elected in 2011 and won a third term in 2015, running unopposed.
“There is no person who is more dedicated to the students and families of the Tuckahoe District than Lisa,” Board Chairwoman Micky Ogburn said. “Our heartfelt wishes for a speedy and full recovery go to Lisa and her husband, Lem, and their three adult children, Emily, Jack and Lauren.
“The citizens of the Tuckahoe District have wisely trusted Lisa’s leadership by electing her to three terms on the School Board, and she responded with 11 years of devoted public service. She is, and will continue to be, a courageous advocate, a compassionate listener, a trusted confidante and, above all, a loyal and loving wife, mother and friend. Today is a difficult day, but we know it is the right decision for Lisa and her family. We will miss her so much.”
The School Board has a regularly scheduled work session Aug. 23 at 2:30 p.m., where members are expected to update the public on the process of selecting Marshall’s successor. During the past two occasions in which a member resigned mid-term, the board selected interim replacements from among a group of candidates who indicated they would not seek the seat permanently. (Board members reasoned that they did not want to provide an advantage to any potential candidate.)
However, in both occasions, the appointees (Robert Boyle in the Three Chopt District and Pierre Greene in the Fairfield District) did decide to seek their seats permanently. Boyle failed to submit the required number of signatures, however, and did not end up on the ballot, while Greene launched a write-in campaign but was among those who lost to current Fairfield member Roscoe Cooper.
