Photo

Click on photo to enlarge

Greg Oliver

Harry Mays, Jr. will soon end 25 years of service on the Oconee County School Board, the large majority of which were spent as chairman.

WALHALLA — Filing for three School District of Oconee County Board of Trustees seats will officially begin at 8 a.m. Monday, but one longtime member says he won’t be among the candidates.

Harry Mays Jr., first elected in 1982, announced that he won’t seek re-election in November. Mays, who represents Seat V that encompasses the Fair Play area, said he planned to personally inform his fellow board members at the school district’s annual retreat today in Westminster.

“There comes a time in everyone’s life, whether he’s an athlete or whatever, that he has to hang up his cleats,” Mays said.

Two other school board seats — Seat II, representing the Walhalla area and presently held by board Vice-Chairman Ken Poston, and Seat IV, covering the Westminster area and presently held by Denise McCormick — are also up for grabs. Poston, first elected in 2000, and McCormick, completing her first term, have already said they would seek re-election on Nov. 4.

The filing period for the seats, which consist of four-year terms that begin this November and conclude in November of 2012, will conclude at noon Aug. 11. Candidates are required to run from the respective council district in which they reside and will be voted on by only residents in that district.

With the exception of one defeat, Mays has continuously served on the school board since his initial election more than 25 years ago. He noted several factors in his decision to leave — his wife Linda’s lymphoma diagnosis last year, the recent death of his mother, the fact that he and his wife are the primary caregivers for his father, longtime physician Dr. Harry Mays Sr., and a desire to spend more time with his granddaughter, who lives in Greenville and another grandchild on the way.

Under Mays leadership, the school district experienced its share of historical achievements — including the reduction from nine to five board seats and becoming the last school district in the state to switch from an elected to an appointed superintendent.