Chester trustees to continue private talk of employees’ ‘grievance,’ former superintendent

Less than a week since accepting former Superintendent Agnes Slayman’s resignation and agreeing to pay her $300,000, Chester County school board trustees plan to meet again in private to talk about a “contractual matter” related to Slayman and an “employment grievance.”

The school district says the board will meet Wednesday at 6 p.m. in a special called or emergency meeting.

No public hearing is scheduled. The agenda released Tuesday states the board plans to hold executive session – a portion of school board meetings closed to the public.

Reasons given for the private discussions are:

▪ To talk about an undisclosed “grievance” or employee complaint

▪ To discuss a contract “related” to Slayman

▪ To talk with attorneys about the contractual matter and the grievance

▪ To discuss naming an interim superintendent

Last Thursday, Chester school trustees spent nearly four hours behind closed doors with attorneys, Slayman and others before emerging to vote 4-3 to accept Slayman’s resignation. That vote came in a motion from trustees saying the district would pay Slayman two years salary.

On Sunday, The Herald exclusively reported that the board needed only one more vote to “unilaterally” fire Slayman and instead pay her $150,000 – equivalent of one year’s salary. Board members have not discussed publicly whether they considered firing the superintendent before she requested release from her employment contract.

The three trustees who voted against the board’s decision last week have not said whether they were opposed to paying the former superintendent, or whether they were opposed to her leaving the district.

The next day, school board Chairwoman Denise Lawson issued a statement applauding Slayman’s achievements in the district since she was hired in January 2012. That statement made no mention of an investigative report obtained by The Herald last week showing multiple Chester school district employees levied serious accusations against Slayman.

Slayman’s attorney has rebuffed those allegations and questioned the validity of the complaints. He says Slayman has a successful record as an administrator and never seriously threatened to harm her employees in Chester, which is one claim found in the investigative report.

Wednesday’s scheduled meeting is one of several of its kind held so far this month. Total, the school board has spent about a dozen hours behind closed doors discussing Slayman’s employment, worker complaints, and hearing from attorneys on those and other issues.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Chester trustees to continue private talk of employees’ ‘grievance,’ former superintendent."