Contract revisited after superintendent firing

Fayetteville School Board’s contract with its newly named superintendent likely will contain language related to conduct, a result of what the board went through with its last top administrator.

“This has to do with sharpening the language, making sure it’s clear that we expect all employees to abide by policy,” said Justin Eichmann, board president. “We probably will have a provision in there that has to do with conduct.”

The board voted last month to hire John Colbert as its new superintendent. Susan Kendall, who serves as the board’s lawyer, is preparing the contract for Colbert. The board will meet soon to finalize the contract, Eichmann said.

Colbert replaces Matthew Wendt, whom the board fired June 18 for violating the district’s sexual harassment policy. Wendt violated the policy through derogatory and offensive conduct and communication with a female subordinate employee, according to Kendall.

Eichmann wasn’t certain Colbert’s contract will contain a morality clause but said the contract “will respond to this experience we’ve gone through.”

Wendt’s contract didn’t contain a morality clause. The contracts for Rogers’ and Springdale’s superintendents don’t contain such a clause, while Bentonville’s does.

The Fayetteville Education Association, the local chapter of the Arkansas Education and National Education associations, sent board members a letter in April urging them to revamp policies regarding administrative leave of the superintendent in the Fayetteville school system.

“We also believe that the board should include a morality clause for any future superintendents as the leader of our district should be above reproach,” the letter

stated.

It was signed by Anna Beaulieu and Cameron Simpkins, the association’s president and vice president, respectively.

Kristen Garner, staff attorney for the Arkansas School Boards Association in Little Rock, said she wouldn’t be surprised to see an uptick in interest in morality or conduct clauses from other school boards based on what happened in Fayetteville. She expressed some reservations about it, though.

“I can certainly see the temptation” of a morality clause, she said. “I guess my primary concern would be how to draft language that would be general, yet specific. That would be very challenging.”

Maree Sneed, an attorney specializing in education law with Hogan Lovells in Washington, wrote in a 2012 article for School Administrator magazine that a morality clause isn’t necessary because a superintendent’s behavior is governed by professional ethics codes or policies for administrators in other board policies, and state and federal laws.

“If the board insists on a morality provision, superintendent’s counsel should ask board’s counsel to describe the behaviors of concern and request they be included in the contract rather than use vague language about moral turpitude,” Sneed wrote.

Bentonville Superintendent Debbie Jones, like her predecessor Michael Poore, has a conduct section in her contract stating: “Superintendent shall at all times conduct herself with due regard for public conventions and morals and refrain from any act that: (1) tends to degrade her reputation or bring her, the district or the board into public contempt, scorn or ridicule; or (2) that tends to shock or offend the community or notions of public morals or decency.”

Poore left Bentonville to work at the Little Rock School District. The state’s education commissioner, Johnny Key, appointed him after the state dissolved the Little Rock School Board and took over the operation of the district.

Poore’s contract, like many others in Arkansas, does not include a morality clause.

His contract with the Little Rock district has clauses about termination “without

cause” and “for cause.” It reads in part: “The District may terminate the contract at any time for cause. ‘For cause’ includes, but is not limited, to conviction of a felony or performance of job duties with gross negligence.”

Travis Riggs, the Bentonville School Board president who first joined the board in 2002, said he couldn’t remember when the board put the conduct clause in the contract. He said other school boards should consider it.

“From a school district standpoint, one of our biggest responsibilities is making sure taxpayer dollars are being handled appropriately,” Riggs said. “I think it’s appropriate we have things in place that give us ‘outs’ if certain things happen.”

Most superintendents in large school districts in Arkansas make six-figure salaries.

Jones is being paid $235,000 this fiscal year. Rogers Superintendent Marlin Berry is making $236,361. Poore earns $235,200 in Little Rock. John Bacon, chief executive officer of eSTEM Public Charter Schools, which has five campuses in Little Rock, earns $202,200.

Berry’s contract states that the Rogers board may dismiss him “for good cause” but

doesn’t go into detail about what that means.

Kristen Cobbs, the Rogers School Board president, said board members haven’t discussed adding to the language, though the subject could come up the next time members evaluate Berry’s performance and consider a contract extension for him, which will be in February.

“It’s always good to have something in writing,” Cobbs said.

Kevin Ownbey, the Springdale School Board president, said it would be prudent to review the superintendent’s contract to see if any additions related to conduct are necessary.

“There is obviously a personal conduct you have to maintain from a moral and ethical standpoint, since we’re in charge of children,” he said.

Ownbey stressed the board has “zero concerns” about Jim Rollins, Springdale’s superintendent since 1982.

“We have a fine and upstanding superintendent,” Ownbey said.

The Arkansas School Boards Association provides boards a model superintendent contract. It includes a list of reasons a superintendent may be terminated, such

as an arrest or the filing of criminal charges against the superintendent; exhibiting favoritism or preference based on a personal relationship with a district employee; or starting a romantic relationship with a district employee.

The model contract is meant to be a “conversation starter” for school boards, not something all boards necessarily should adopt, Garner said.

“I think relationships in the workplace can cause a lot of problems, even when they’re consensual,” Garner said. “Even when there’s no unfairness, there is scrutiny, and it’s potentially distracting. When there’s a power imbalance, that’s also a problem.”

Wendt became Fayetteville’s superintendent July 1, 2016. The board, after completing his annual review, voted unanimously in January to extend his contract by a year so it would expire June 30, 2021. The board increased his salary from $218,000 to $231,080.

Allegations of sexual harassment against Wendt emerged less than two months later. He went on an administrative leave of absence with pay starting April 8 and remained on leave until the board fired him June 18.