The Harris County School Board has issued the following press release:
The Harris County Board of Education (BOE) recently recognized the retirement of John Taylor. Taylor served as the BOE attorney for 40 years.
“This terrible COVID-19 virus has taken so many things. While we recognized and thanked Mr. Taylor in June via a Zoom meeting, our hope was to get to the day when it was safe to honor him in person and sincerely thank him for his many, many dedicated years of service to the Harris County School Board,” said Chairman Shane Lipp.
Taylor, of LaGrange, died on July 25, 2020, at West Georgia Hospice. Shortly prior to his death, Taylor was in the process of retiring from the practice of law after a total of 52 years.
Taylor has a long list of prestigious service as a Captain in the United States Army, serving in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps and practicing law with the firm of Sims & Lewis, now Lewis, Taylor & Todd, P.C. He was appointed to the Georgia State Board of Education in 1983 by Governor Joe Frank Harris, serving until 1990, including as its Vice Chairman for Appeals and Chairman of Administrative Services Committee. In addition to representing the Harris County School District, during his career Taylor also represented other longtime clients such as the Harris County Board of Commissioners and the Troup County School System. He twice served as President of the Georgia Council of School Board Attorneys.
“He was a Southern gentleman lawyer through and through. To have 40 years of institutional knowledge of school board law guiding us through both good and bad situations was a blessing,” said Roger Couch, Harris County School District (HCSD) superintendent.
Greg Ellington was appointed to fill the role of school board attorney.