Time to stop

Disgraced superintendent loses in court again

It came as no surprise last week when ever-patient Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet dismissed the second of two ridiculous lawsuits brought by disgraced former Fayetteville School Superintendent Matthew Wendt.

The suit that bit the dust last week made a bizarre claim. Wendt contended the Fayetteville School Board could stop him from working for the district if he had violated district policies — standards he was obligated as the district’s leader to carry out contractually, morally and any other way one looks at his role — but could not invalidate his employment contract. What would that mean? If the judge had bought the argument, the School District, and its taxpayers, would have to keep paying Wendt despite his irresponsible behavior, including an extramarital affair with a subordinate.

Threet correctly disagreed and threw Wendt’s case out of his court.

Wendt, dear reader may recall, was fired by the School Board last summer after an investigation found that he had directed profane and threatening messages to the employee with which he’d had a romantic relationship that went bad. The employee, Shae Lynn Newman, filed a sexual harassment complaint against the district due to Wendt’s actions. The School Board fired him when it determined his behavior violated the district’s policies.

Documents collected by the district while investigating the matter showed Wendt’s behavior fell beneath any acceptable standard of professionalism. By any objective standard, his dismissal was justified, as was the termination of his contract.

Wendt responded by not only suing the School District for wrongful termination (that’s the suit Threet dispensed with last week), but also sued Newman for interfering with his “business expectancy” with the district.

Threet bounced that lawsuit last year, pointing out that Newman wasn’t a party to Wendt’s employment.

So, we’re done with Matthew Wendt’s puzzling attempt to pin the blame for his own behavior on someone else, right? Sadly, no.

Wendt’s attorney, Randy Coleman, said after the hearing Wednesday that his client’s suits can and will be refiled.

“He’s not going away,” Coleman said of his client.

Oh, how we wish he would. Somehow, Wendt still doesn’t get it: He doesn’t have a job anymore because he behaved in a spectacularly unprofessional manner. He was fired because he earned it. His plight is his own making, as much as he’d like to make it someone — anyone — else’s. No number of tortured claims in legal filings is going to change that.