After a tense and brief discussion at the school board worksession Thursday night, current school board chairman Jim McBrayer was chosen again for the position in a 5-0 vote; members Katrina Young and Sharon Pharr abstained from voting. Members McBrayer, Wales Barksdale, Mandy North and Tony Dowdy voted for McBrayer.

Young gave a statement of disappointment in the behavior of the school board before the vote.

"I wanted to say as part of the leadership up here, sometimes we have conversations about who is the next chair or vice chair. I haven't been included in those conversations. I felt excluded, and that's not a good feeling. We're supposed to be a leadership team. I wanted to raise that."

Young, who was just re-elected to her third term on the board, said the past practice had been to have the position rotate and the vice-chairman would usually become the chairman.

Two years ago, Young had unsucessfully sought the nomination for chairman. The position instead went to first-term member McBrayer, who succeeded Wales Barksdale as chairman at that time.

Pharr said she had been unaware there was a discussion this year, although there was much discussion two years ago, and asked the other members if there had been a discussion.

"In what regard?" asked McBrayer.

After the chairman position vote, McBrayer nominated Wales Barksdale to succeed current vice-chairman Tony Dowdy. The same board members that voted for McBrayer voted for Barksdale, 5-0. Pharr nominated and voted for Dowdy. Young abstained from voting.

Among the members whose terms last through 2016 are Mandy North, Brad Smith, Wales Barksdale, Sharon Pharr and Tony Dowdy. Jim McBrayer and Katrina Young were both recently re-elected and their new terms will end in 2018.

The chairman and vice-chairman positions are two-year positions within the school board.