Kevin Garrison leaves vacancy on school board 2 weeks before election
By Eric Valentine
No one got hurt. He wasn’t driving very far, he says. And it was his first offense.
But Kevin Garrison is taking ultimate responsibility for his Driving Under the Influence arrest last Friday night in Hailey, partly in the hopes of preventing negative light on the school district whose board he had been sitting on until Monday afternoon. That’s when Garrison, who had already rescinded his re-election effort weeks ago, announced his resignation from the Blaine County School District’s Board of Trustees.
“Anything that puts the district in any sort of ill repute, I’m not OK with and that’s why I feel the need to resign,” Garrison said in an interview with The Weekly Sun. “I was taught from a very early age that a person in a leadership role or in a position of authority should lead by example,” he added in his resignation letter. “An instance happened this past weekend which was an example that was completely inappropriate in my current role as Trustee and one that I deeply regret. As such, I am voluntarily stepping aside.”
Garrison, 56, of Hailey, was arrested for DUI around 10 p.m. Oct. 18 by Hailey police. The school board official was also cited for open container of an alcoholic beverage, a Blaine County Sheriff’s Office report said. Both are misdemeanors.
Garrison announced last month that he would not be seeking re-election for his Zone 5 seat, which covers the northeast region of Blaine County. And only one person, Lara Stone, declared candidacy for that seat which expires in January.
“Trustee Garrison has submitted his resignation to the Board of Trustees,” school district spokesperson Heather Crocker wrote in an email to The Weekly Sun. “Per Statute 33-504, the Board will declare a vacancy at their next meeting and discuss how to fill the vacancy for the next two months.”
That special meeting was slated for Tuesday, Oct. 22.
One possible way to fill the vacancy is by appointing Stone, since she is running unopposed in the upcoming November election and the board is allowed “to appoint to such vacancy a person qualified to serve as trustee of the school district,” the statute states.
Garrison was himself an appointee in 2017.
“We thank him for his 2.5 years of service to our District and his relentless focus on ensuring all of our students are achieving at the highest levels. He has been a voice for financial accountability, closing the gap, improving graduation across all demographics, and supporting the restructuring of Ernest Hemingway into a STEAM School,” Crocker stated in the same email.