HIGH PROFILE: Toya Green

Lawyer, 'private person' an advocate for public education

It's egalitarian. It's economically diverse. It's racially diverse.

Public school at its best is an authentic reflection of the American way of life, says Toya Hampton Green, a Charleston County School Board member and self-described idealist.

"Children have to figure out how to get along and to find value within each other and respect each other," Green says. "Public school is the ideal place for this to happen, especially if teachers and parents work together."

Green is speaking from a meeting room at the McNair Law Firm on Calhoun Street weeks after beginning work there. Her office is just across the street and to the right of Buist Academy, where daughter Maya is in the first grade. And it's just across the street and to the left of 75 Calhoun St., where she serves as a first-term member of the school board.

She's a product of public schools and the daughter of a public schoolteacher, so it's not surprising that she is an advocate of public education. Her first position as a lawyer was with Rosen, Rosen and Hagood, which represents the school board. But seeking a seat on the board was never part of Green's plan.

That's because the public school advocate thinks of herself as a private person, she says.

"I'm someone who loves to be in the background, but I overcame that. I don't know how to say this without sounding ugly, but I was disappointed by some of the leadership before."

Green decided to seek the office after motherhood prompted her to take a closer look at public schools, she says. The young lawyer saw trying to get elected to the board as a way of holding herself accountable.

"I could not live in Charleston and not contribute. It's like standing by and waiting for someone hurt on the street to die. There's a book called 'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway' (by Susan Jeffers). I read it and it helped me get the courage to run for the school board."

The Charleston area has many positive attributes, and continuing to improve the public schools will make it that much better, she says. "I am very optimistic about where our public schools are going. While the progress may seem slow, we are working hard, and I have faith that the pace of progress will accelerate."

Both Green and her husband, Dwayne, are in the Liberty Fellowship class of 2008. The program is for professionals ages 25-45 who have shown that they have strong leadership capabilities. Each year, the program selects 20 professionals from across the state for the two-year fellowships.

In 2001, the two formed Hampton Green, a law firm on the peninsula. Her civic and professional service has included the Charleston County Bar's executive committee, Charleston Board of Architectural Review chairwoman and South Carolina Women's Lawyers Association board of directors.

As part of the fellowship program, Green will carry out a two-part community leadership project focused on race relations.

"I'd like for Charleston to grow and become more progressive with how the races interact and treat each other."

The first part of her project will involve asking South Carolina leaders and national figures from the state questions that prompt them to reflect on racial issues affecting the state. The project's goal will be to have them write their thoughts on the issues in letters to the state's residents. Green would have the letters published as a book.

The second part will be to institute an annual competition for public high school students to write essays on race relations. The students will focus on issues dealt with in the book, and winners will receive scholarships to a state college or university.

At McNair, Green handles commercial and some residential real estate closings. It's a position that involves reviewing histories of properties and drafting loan documents and deeds necessary to change property ownership.

The attorney says she left Hampton Green because she wanted the opportunity for more professional development.

At McNair, her mentor is Sidney Boone, a longtime real estate attorney. "I am learning more than I have in a long time, and I feel that I am growing as a lawyer. It is comforting to be part of a team that includes both seasoned mentors and a full support staff." While being a wife, mother, attorney and public official is challenging for one person to handle, Green says, "I try not to look at the overwhelming big picture too often. ... I take my life a day at a time."

Reach Wevonneda Minis at 937-5705 or at wminis@postandcourier.com.