A Hamilton County Board of Education ethics committee expected to form in September may have to evaluate the circumstances surrounding a board member who is facing a shoplifting charge after a July 25 incident at the Lookout Valley Wal-Mart.
But the board’s attorney stressed that Janice Boydston, who was cited for theft under $500, is innocent until proven guilty and that the citation now is not an issue.
On July 25, a loss prevention officer at Wal-Mart, located at 3550 Cummings Highway, saw Ms. Boydston conceal several health and beauty aid items in her purse and tried to leave the store without paying, according to the incident report from the Chattanooga Police Department.
The six items found in Ms. Boydston’s purse cost $34.05 and were undamaged and returned to Wal-Mart, according to the report.
Ms. Boydston is scheduled to appear in Hamilton County General Sessions Court Sept. 11.
The District 6 representative, who has served on the board for 28 years, said the toothbrush, toothpaste, foot pads and makeup items must have fallen into her open purse when she placed them in her cart. She paid for $85 worth of groceries, she said.
“It was stupid of me to have my purse in the buggy, stupid of me for my purse to be open, but there was no intent,” Ms. Boydston said.
After passing through the checkout line, she was stopped by the officer who asked to look in her purse. Ms. Boydston complied, and the officer discovered the items. The loss prevention officer told Chattanooga police the incident was recorded on the store’s surveillance cameras.
“It was shocking to me. It’s unnerving to me,” Ms. Boydson said. “You don’t go in a store and spend $85 and intend to walk out with a toothbrush or a cold drink. At least I don’t.”
Ms. Boydson, who is not up for re-election this year, has retained Sam Robinson III as her attorney.
“I can’t stop what people think or what they say,” she said. “All I can do is keep my head up.”
Board Chairman Kenny Smith said he did not know all the details of the incident and would wait before passing judgment.
“Hopefully this was a misunderstanding,” he said. “It’s unfortunate we have to deal with this. In our system, you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty.”
New state legislation implemented July 1 authorizes the school board to form an ethics committee to look into the conduct of any employee or member, board attorney Scott Bennett said. Based upon the new policy, the committee can choose, if it wishes, to censure the person in question publicly and/or pass the case along to the district attorney for ouster should the incident result in a criminal charge, he said. A censure would allow the board to make a public statement about the conduct of any member. Only the district attorney can oust a member, he said.
“Before the law changed and authorized boards to adopt this type of policy, there really was no avenue for local boards of education to take any action concerning any alleged violation of an ethics policy,” Mr. Bennett said. “At this stage, this doesn’t even rise to the level of being an issue officially for the board of education.”
Staff writer Kelli Gauthier contributed to this story.
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