Termination of principal reversed

Konawa August 19, 2008 06:37 pm

— At the August 11 board meeting, the Konawa School Board voted to accept the resignation of former high school principal Gary Stidham. Stidham had been terminated at a July 14 hearing but according to Superintendent Dr. Don Sjoberg, “There had been enough confusion at the end of the hearing to warrant giving the benefit of the doubt to the former principal and his legal counsel.”
At the beginning of the July 14 public termination hearing, Stidham, through his legal counsel, had offered to resign prior to a vote by the board to terminate his contract.
For approximately three hours, the board deliberated the facts of the case presented by both sides, and after returning to open session, voted unanimously to accept the finding of facts as presented by the superintendent.
“A resignation could have been submitted to the superintendent at this time but wasn’t,” said Sjoberg. “As a result, the board was obligated to follow the advice of the district’s legal counsel and continue with the next action item on the agenda which required a vote on whether or not to terminate.
“Everyone seemed to expect a resignation to be offered before the vote to terminate, since reading and voting on the finding of facts took time which would have given opportunity for Mr. Stidham and his counsel to act. Had there been a letter of resignation in my hand, I believe that there would have been no termination vote.”
Stidham submitted a resignation to the superintendent July 28. “With the letter in hand, the board could then proceed with making this rare decision,” Sjoberg said. “As part of the August 11 board meeting agenda, the board rescinded the previous vote to terminate and accepted the resignation.”