Police were called to the Mobile County Public School System’s central office after a school board commissioner allegedly threatened the mayor of Semmes following a personnel hearing, according to the mayor, who says he filed a police report over the encounter.
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Semmes Mayor Brandon Van Hook said District 5 Mobile County school board commissioner Johnny Hatcher threatened to assault him during a private conversation Wednesday morning at the system’s administrative offices on Magnum Pass. Hatcher acknowledged a heated exchange but denies threatening anyone.
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What each man says happened
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According to Van Hook, the confrontation came after a personnel hearing involving now-former Mary G. Montgomery High School head football coach Zach Golson, who had appealed his transfer from MGM to an elementary school within the system. Van Hook spoke in support of Golson staying at the high school, and the county school commission voted to keep him in his position. Hatcher voted in favor of Golson remaining at MGM as well.
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After the hearing ended, Van Hook said, Hatcher asked to speak with him in a separate room — and asked whether he \”had a problem with him.\”
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\”I said, ‘As a matter of fact, I do,’ and as soon as I did, he was face-to-face with me, and he said, ‘Well, the door’s shut. You can do something about it,’\” Van Hook said. He said the exchange escalated into a shouting match, and that Hatcher blocked the door when he tried to find a witness, got within an inch of his face, raised his fist and told him he was going to beat him.
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Van Hook said he filed a report with the Mobile Police Department, which dispatched officers to the Magnum Pass office where he gave a statement. He has not decided whether to file charges against Hatcher.
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Hatcher, reached about the encounter, described it differently. \”He and I had a spirited conversation, and maybe that’s what they’re talking about,\” Hatcher said. \”What he and I talked about was a little personal. I’d rather not speak on (that) to be honest with you.\” Asked directly whether he threatened the mayor, Hatcher was emphatic: \”I didn’t threaten him. I educated him.\”
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Both men agreed the dispute grew out of a personal matter rather than the school board business that brought them to the building.
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What witnesses heard
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According to some who attended the hearing, shouting could be heard in the hallway outside the room where the private conversation took place, near the auditorium hosting the board session. Mobile County Public School System spokesperson Rena Phillips declined to comment and deferred questions to Hatcher.
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When a threat becomes a case
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The encounter sits in a gray zone that police, not politicians, will sort out. Verbal disputes between elected officials rarely produce charges unless prosecutors believe a threat was specific and credible; harassment or menacing charges can apply when one party reasonably fears physical harm. Van Hook’s police report preserves his account, and his decision on whether to pursue charges remains open.
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Both men hold offices that answer to overlapping constituencies: Hatcher represents a district that includes Semmes on the county school board, while Van Hook leads the city that school district serves. The Golson hearing that brought them together ended with the coach staying at the high school — the outcome both men had supported.
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The Mobile Police Department did not release details of the report. Unless charges are filed, the incident will remain what both men currently describe it: a private argument, loud enough for a hallway to hear.
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