Corrected version
The Greenwood School Board passed on a motion to approve a personnel list for the 2013-2014 school year Tuesday because board members needed more information, Board President George Ellis said.
That action, or lack thereof, has drawn criticism around the district, according to Ellis, who said letters denouncing the board’s refusal to approve the employees were left on car windshields outside city schools.
On Thursday, Ellis said the assistant superintendent, principals, vice principals and other administrators recommended by Dr. Jennifer Wilson, the interim superintendent, were not approved because the board did not receive the information on them soon enough to review them and make a reasonable decision.
Board member Lora Evans made the motion to approve Wilson’s recommendations, but the motion never got a second.
According to state law, selection of assistant superintendents and principals is supposed to be approved by today.
Ellis said the board requested the superintendent’s recommendations, along with position descriptions, salaries, duties and performance, licenses and certifications, on Jan. 25 or Jan. 26.
“We didn’t get that information until Monday, at 4:05 p.m., and the rest of the board members got it around the same time,” said Ellis. “It was a lot of information. We wanted to look over the information to make sure we had the right people for the right job. ... We didn’t get a chance to look at it because it’s a lot of information.”
For Ellis, the decision not to approve Wilson’s recommendation was a symbolic rejection of business-as-usual, not a slight to the employees up for renewal.
“It’s the same people currently in place,” he said.
The board did not fail to approve those employees because it didn’t feel that they were worthy, and “the decision wasn’t based on wanting to dismiss or fire anyone,” Ellis said.
“This board will not make decisions without the appropriate information, without asking questions and then discussing,” he said. “We are the guardians of taxpayers’ money, and we don’t want to make decisions without understanding what we’re doing.”
Further, the list of Wilson’s personnel recommendations included positions that did not need to be approved until sometime in April. The state law that requires assistant superintendents and principals to be approved by Feb. 15 says nothing about the eight other administrative positions on Wilson’s list.
Those additional positions confused board members when they received the information Monday afternoon.
“She was trying to approve all these people even though these people were not needed yet,” said Ellis.
Ellis also said more is at stake with the new positions since a new superintendent for the district could be named in the next month. If a new superintendent is named, he or she would be subject to dealing with this personnel list for an entire school year.
Wilson, who was named interim superintendent in August after the retirement of Dr. Margie Pulley, is in the running for the position.
The board did not discuss reasons for passing on the motion for approval during Tuesday’s meeting. Ellis said board members had discussed their inability to approve the personnel Monday evening and Tuesday.
Ellis said he had talked to Wilson at least three times and also had talked to the other board members. “Everybody was in the loop and knew we wouldn’t approve it,” he said.
Wilson could not be reached this morning for comment.
Ellis said that Wilson’s defense was that “that’s what she wanted to do and that it’s been done in the past,” but he said that mindset is exactly what the board is fighting against.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
