Chester sheriff: ‘Very concerned’ about claims superintendent made racial comments, threatened to ‘get’ him

Chester County schools Superintendent Agnes Slayman resigned late Thursday night after negotiating a $300,000 payout during a four-hour, closed-door school board meeting that included discussions with attorneys about an investigative report in which school employees accuse Slayman of making threats, bullying them and making racial statements.

The school board voted 4-3 to accept Slayman’s resignation. Board members Maggie James, Patricia Hensley and Eugene Boyd voted against the motion, which called for Slayman to be allowed to quit and collect $300,000 – two years’ of her annual pay. She’ll also keep district insurance benefits for three months.

The investigation into Slayman – performed by a consultant at the school board’s request in late August and earlier this month – revealed claims from school district employees that Slayman made negative remarks about other public officials, including Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood.

Underwood, the county’s first black sheriff and the parent of a student in Chester County schools, said he’s “very concerned” about allegations in the report that Slayman told school employees that she would “get” the sheriff.

Employees also told the consultant that Slayman, who is white, was “very upset” that a black sheriff’s deputy had been assigned as the school resource officer at Lewisville Elementary School, according to the report. Slayman allegedly told a senior administrator, “He is black; fix it!”

“I am very concerned, especially as a parent, that racial comments would be made by the superintendent,” Underwood said. “How can we expect our children to succeed in this kind of environment?”

This past summer, Underwood was highly critical of the school district’s decision to replace sheriff’s deputies with private security guards as school resource officers at the county’s schools.

The employees’ claims were included in the investigative report written by Betty Bagley, a former S.C. school district superintendent and current college instructor. She is not the Chester City Council member of the same name.

Slayman was placed on leave earlier this month while Bagley investigated and interviewed several district employees, including spending about three hours with Slayman, according to the report.

The report also included a claim that Slayman told an employee “that Idaho is 95 percent white, and as a result is ‘heaven.’ ”

School employees allege Slayman made threats of violence toward them and school board member Rick Hughes. Efforts to reach Hughes, a medical doctor who voted to accept Slayman’s resignation and pay her the $300,000, were unsuccessful Friday.

Maggie James, one of two black school board members, voted against accepting Slayman’s resignation and paying her $300,000. She declined to comment Friday about the allegations of racial bias included in the report.

Slayman’s attorney, J. Lewis Cromer of Columbia, reiterated Friday that Slayman “absolutely disagrees” with any claims that she was going to physically harm anyone. He did not comment Friday on the allegations of racial bias made by employees.

Slayman might issue a statement within days, Cromer said, but until then she would make no comment concerning the allegations in the report or the decision to resign.

Underwood: Slayman tried to ‘stir’ issues

The sheriff and then-superintendent have butted heads in recent months about safety in schools, largely centered on the district’s decision to replace deputies with private guards on school campuses.

District officials have cited cost-saving measures as at least one basis for the decision to hire guards instead of sworn law enforcement officers.

Included in Bagley’s report was an allegation that – after her public rift with the sheriff over the security guard issue – Slayman directed several employees to interview cheerleaders in an effort to force the sponsor to resign and to “get” the sheriff.

Underwood and his family are friends with the family of the cheerleading coach, the sheriff said Friday, and ever since the public dispute over school officers, Slayman had been “trying to stir up (a) mess.”

Slayman’s resignation gives the district a chance to get back to its core function of educating children without distractions, Underwood said, and broken relationships could now be mended.

Underwood said he remains willing to put deputies back in schools as resource officers if district officials change their minds.

District officials have not indicated whether deputies might be reinstated on school grounds. Board Chairwoman Denise Lawson told The Herald that deputies will be paid to serve at extracurricular activities, such as high school football games, and at special events, such as high school graduation.

Report: Slayman ‘grossed up’ security chief pay

The Bagley report also includes employee claims that Slayman met often with a group of unidentified men for breakfast to talk about schools matters, district staff and legal matters. Employees told Bagley the former superintendent described the group as her “legal advisors,” “breakfast consultants,” “table talk group” and “political and breakfast cabinet advisor(s).”

Slayman, employees claimed, said on several occasions that if she went against that breakfast club, she would be “ruined.”

District employees also alleged in the report that Slayman told schools staff not to speak to Sheriff Underwood or Chester County Supervisor Shane Stuart, who was elected in March. Stuart told The Herald on Friday he had not spoken to Slayman in many weeks following the decision to replace deputies with security guards at schools.

The school district asked the Chester City Council earlier this month to extend the city limits on an emergency basis to allow city police officers to patrol at high school football games. Under state law, Stuart said, county officials would have had to sign off on that plan, but Slayman never returned his calls asking for information about the request.

Stuart – a former sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer – said that when he contacted other school administrators and at least two school board members in an attempt to get that information, they all told him only Slayman could speak to him on behalf of the district.

Employees claimed in the report that Slayman required them to “gross up” the salary of the newly hired schools security chief, a position that had to be created when the district switched to private security guards. When Slayman interviewed the eventual security chief outside regular hiring practices, employees claim, she told him he had the job.

Those employees told Bagley that the salary was increased to $62,000 – up from $38,000 when the job was first posted.

Bagley also told school board members in her report that several of Slayman’s staff members were considering legal action due to the alleged “hostile work environment.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Chester sheriff: ‘Very concerned’ about claims superintendent made racial comments, threatened to ‘get’ him."