A termination hearing for a former Greenwood Public School District administrator, on hold since January because of scheduling conflicts, is set to resume Friday morning.
The hearing for Assistant Superintendent Mary Brown, who was fired by district Superintendent Montrell Greene in October, last convened Jan. 16.
Greene will likely retake the witness stand when the hearing — which has been open to the public at Brown’s request — resumes at 9 a.m. at the district’s central office.
During the most recent day of testimony in the hearing more than three months ago, Brown’s attorney, Lisa Ross of Jackson, had grilled Greene about alleged conflicts with other district employees and about his conduct at work. When the hearing adjourned Jan. 16, Ross said she still had several questions for the superintendent.
In firing Brown, Greene cited insubordination and violations of district policies, including Brown’s decision to air complaints of mistreatment, harassment and intimidation of her by Greene during a half-hour recorded interview with Greenwood talk show host Lee Hall, which was later broadcast online and on the radio.
Brown has maintained she was terminated after being harassed and bullied by Greene. She has said the firing was an act of retaliation for her criticism of Greene, including testimony during the non-renewal hearing for former Greenwood High School Principal Percy Powell last spring that the superintendent had instructed her to intimidate witnesses — accusations Greene has denied.
Ross has argued that her client’s firing violated her First Amendment free speech rights.
School Board Attorney Carlos Palmer and witnesses for the district — including Greene and Deputy Superintendent Chester Leigh — have maintained that Brown failed to follow the proper procedure for filing a grievance and that her public airing of complaints violated several district policies.
Brown had overseen curriculum in the district for about a year and a half prior to her firing. She is also a former principal at East School in Leflore County and at Williams Elementary in Greenwood.
Greene has spent a total of three days on the witness stand so far. Once Ross completes her cross-examination, Palmer will have a chance to ask further follow-up questions under rules established by Luke Schissel, a Greenwood attorney who is serving as hearing officer.
Greene is the third witness to be called so far. Hall, who has also been streaming video of the proceedings over the Internet at www.gwoodlive.com, was the first witness called and testified for several hours.
District Deputy Superintendent Chester Leigh spent three days and nearly 20 hours answering questions about Brown’s conduct, performance and relationship with Greene, which Leigh said became strained after Brown testimony during the Powell hearing.
In other district news, the Greenwood School Board held a termination hearing Tuesday afternoon for a first-year district teacher who had been fired by Greene after a medical condition kept her out of work well after her alloted personal and sick leave time had expired.
Greene testified that the teacher had not kept the district informed of her status, though teacher maintained throughout that district officials had not made efforts to contact her beyond sending a letter to the wrong address.
Ultimately, the school board decided to allow the teacher to resign instead and agreed not to ask the Mississippi Board of Education to suspend her teaching license, which is district policy in cases of breach of contract.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
