FLORENCE—Florence school board member Jim Fisher has resigned his position effective immediately, citing education-related comments he made recently on a social website as the reason.

Fisher submitted a letter of resignation to the school board Friday evening. In that letter he said he'd "made a grave mistake in publishing some views on education in a public forum."

Fisher went on to say that his statements were not meant to be hurtful, but that they'd done irreparable damage to the school system.

"The success of the students in our system is of far greater importance than any one person," he wrote. "The school board holds our employees to high standards of conduct. I hold myself to that same standard. So it is without hesitation that I tender my resignation from the board effective immediately."

Fisher's comments on that site were referring to a recent article and subsequent editorial in the TimesDaily newspaper regarding the school board's recently-approved $22,000 raise for superintendent Janet Womack.

In defending the raise amount, Fisher touted the pay of the Florence system's full-time teachers as above the state salary matrix due to local tax support and reminded teachers that they received a (one-time) cash bonus last year and none lost their jobs.

Lisa Singleton-Rickman can be reached at 256-740-5735 or lisa.singleton-rickman@TimesDaily.com.