By By Kerry Whipple Bean – publisher
Escambia County School Board members on Thursday voted to retain Brewton lawyer Broox Garrett as the board's attorney.
The move came after an executive session at which the board said it was discussing the &#8220good name and character” of an individual.
Garrett, a longtime school board attorney, is also the chairman of the city of Brewton's annexation committee.
County school officials have criticized the city's annexation proposal, saying it would hurt the county schools in East Brewton if students were annexed into the city school district.
Board members had no public discussion before voting to continue paying Garrett's $500 retainer fee.
Also Thursday, the school board decided to allow the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to take over the Title VII Indian education program in the county schools.
Huxford Elementary School has the largest concentration of Poarch Creek students, Heibert said.
Superintendent Billy Hines said the move will take some work from the school district's accounting department, because Poarch Creek will be responsible for accounting for the federal funding for the program.
In other business: