The publisher of The Atmore News could be the first local school board member impeached in Alabama in 17 years under a indictment filed last week in Escambia County that one longtime school officials says is a “weaponization” of Alabama law.

Sherry Ann Digmon, 72, is facing an impeachment charge in addition to two counts of criminal ethics violation and for violating the state’s grand jury secrecy law related to her dual role as an elected school board member and a newspaper publisher.

Also charged with violating the grand jury secrecy act is Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher, 69, who wrote an Oct. 25 story that contained information related to an investigation overseen by Escambia County District Attorney Stephen Billy. The cases have thrust tiny Atmore in southwestern Alabama into the national spotlight with free press advocates claiming that Billy was pursuing unconstitutional charges aimed at silencing the reporters.

The latest twist in the ongoing probe by Billy is contained within a nine-page impeachment indictment, filed on Oct. 27 and provided to AL.com by Digmon’s attorney and the Alabama Association of School Boards, a document that focuses in part on the school board’s decision not to renew a superintendent. The indictment accuses Digmon of violating the 11-year-old School Board Governance Improvement Act of 2012 that establishes training requirements, and accountability measures for all local school board members.

“This is the most outlandish situation I’ve seen of outside influence in a school board proceeding,” said longtime School Board Association executive director Sally Smith.

Smith, who has been with the association for almost 37 years, called the charges “subjective” and “opinion,” and said they could set a chilling precedent statewide.

“I think all school board members across the state should be concerned this act could be weaponized to substitute a decision of the school board by a DA who see things differently,” Smith told AL.com Tuesday.

Ignoring the positives

Under the indictment, Digmon is accused – among other things – of ignoring “all the positive things” that Escambia County Superintendent Michele McClung had accomplished since her hiring in 2021. Digmon was one of four school board members to vote not to renew McClung’s contract on Oct. 12, during a contentious school board member in which the district attorney, Billy, attended and vocalized his support for renewing McClung as superintendent.

By ignoring McClung’s record, Digmon’s decision “was made contrary to her oath and the provisions of the School Board Governance Improvement Act of 2012,” according to the court document filed by Billy.

The indictment also accuses Digmon of not providing a basis for her “No” vote “except to say she was concerned because she had been contacted by employees, which clearly reflected her lack of concern for children,” which Billy claims is also a violation of the 2012 school board law.

Smith said the lack of a statement from Digmon was likely to “protect the superintendent,” adding that commenting on why she voted against renewal “could be publicly stigmatizing.”

Smith said that Billy is not using the 2012 state law as it was originally intended. That law was adopted at the end of the Great Recession and at a time when school boards were wrestling with contract renewals of school officials amid “horrific budget situations,” Smith said.

The law does say that board members must attend scheduled meetings and be active participants in district functions, activities and training programs “unless good cause is shown.”’ The law allows a school board, upon a majority vote of its members, to impose sanctions against its own in cases of “neglect of duty” or “willful misconduct.”

Ethical questions

In the impeachment indictment, Digmon is also accused of violating her duty as an elected school board member “by refusing to publish articles which promoted the school system and the superintendent, which were written by a contract writer of the school system.”

Digmon also “never abstained from voting to approve payments to her own business” while serving as a school board member, the indictment reads.

McClung, according to the indictment, had previously questioned payments to Digmon’s business, and that Digmon “turned against McClung because she questioned payment made to her business” from the Escambia County School Board.

Digmon now also faces two counts of an ethics violation for using her school board position “for personal gain by selling ads” in the Atmore Magazine and/or Grace Publishing LLC. Digmon reportedly has financial stake in both of them and received a financial gain in excess of $2,500.

“From the evidence presented, it appears that Digmon is not focused on the well-being of the school system as a whole, nor the students, and only on her opportunity to benefit financially from the Escambia County Board of Education,” the indictment reads.

School functions

The indictment also accuses Digmon of failing to participate in school activities and functions in her role as a school board member, that she worked as a reporter to “promote her newspaper business, The Atmore News,” and for attending school conferences “accompanied by her female partner, spending several thousand dollars yearly.”

Smith called the language a “cheap shot” at Digmon, saying “there was nothing wrong with going to conferences.”

Digmon’s attorney, Ernest White of Brewton, told AL.com on Friday that the language in the indictment “tosses some ugly stones” at his client. He accused Billy of trying to get Digmon removed from the school board through the courts so he can “replace her with a friendly board of education member” from Atmore who would then lead a revote of McClung’s contract renewal.

Billy has not returned multiple calls for comment from AL.com. McClung has also not returned calls. Digmon, as part of her bond, cannot talk about the case.

Said Smith, “Obviously, the community should share its opinions and views (over the contract decision). If the community thinks differently, that place should be the ballot box.”

Superintendent spotlighted

McClung became the superintendent of Escambia County Schools in 2021, after serving as the director of teaching, learning and assessment with the Mobile County Public School System – the state’s largest system. In Mobile, she was responsible for overseeing curriculum, creating quarterly assessments, and preparing students for mandated state assessments, according to a school system announcement of a lifetime achievement award she received in 2021. McClung’s responsibilities also included overseeing planning, budgeting, conducting and keeping records of professional development for over 4,000 teachers, as well as administrators and staff, according to Mobile County schools.

Billy, meanwhile, defends McClung’s record as a superintendent in Escambia County, saying she took leadership of a “failing school system,” and had initiated about a dozen improvements that warranted a contract renewal, according to the impeachment indictment.

The indictment shows that McClung is credited with – among other things — the remodeling of classrooms, starting a pre-K program at a facility that was previously closed, and improving the school report card from a failing grade to a “B.”

According to Billy, Digmon failed to attend a Sept. 26 meeting to vote on McClung’s contract. Digmon, according to the indictment, had “extensive communications with other board members before and after the Sept. 26 meeting.” Not enough board members attended on Sept. 26 and the meeting could not take place.

A few weeks later, on Oct. 12, Digmon voted not to renew, and the non-renewal was soon followed by a wave of indictments, local newspaper accounts about the school dispute, and national attention on the arrests of journalists.

If Digmon is convicted by a judge and impeached, she will become the first local school board member in Alabama to be impeached since David Thomas was impeached in 2006 from his school board post after spending around $9,000 in taxpayer money to purchase Mardi Gras parade throws.

Sally said that her association will defend Digmon from what she says is “undo retaliation” for her vote on a political matter.

“The ASB will aggressively defend against the corrupt impeachment proceeding of this Escambia County School board member,” she said.