3-hour Chester school board meeting ends with no action; superintendent absent

A special-called Chester County school board meeting Thursday night ended with no action by trustees after the group spent more than three hours in executive session discussing an “employment matter.”

Board Chairwoman Denise Lawson said she could not say publicly what school trustees talked about and she declined to offer specifics on Superintendent Agnes Slayman’s indefinite leave of absence. Lawson said Slayman has accrued leave like any other employee.

Slayman was not present during the board’s public portion of the meeting and has not returned emails or phone calls from The Herald this week.

District officials did not say whose employment was discussed Thursday.

The Herald first reported on Wednesday that Slayman is on personal leave. District spokeswoman Brooke Clinton has said she cannot comment about Slayman’s leave, when it began, or whether she’s being paid.

Slayman has been in charge of Chester County schools since January 2012. She’s spent more than 30 years in education and as an advocate for public schools, including as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent.

Slayman’s absence has come at a time of contention surrounding who will serve as security or law enforcement at Chester High School’s home football games.

Several Chester parents attended Thursday’s board meeting at the school district office.

Melba Carter, whose son is 16 years old, said she’s not happy with what she calls recent communication failures.

Recently, she reported to the Chester County Sheriff’s Office an incident of what she calls verbal harassment or assault involving unidentified women who approached her son on school grounds during his lunch break.

Carter said she called the district office but her messages and emails have so far gone unreturned. She had hoped to address the matter with the school board Thursday but a public hearing was not held.

No response from district officials, Carter said, leaves a parent feeling “a total loss of control” of their child’s experience at school. Others at the meeting voiced similar concerns about the inability to reach district officials recently.

Lawson said she’s unaware of such communication issues in the district and she encouraged any concerned parents to contact Chester’s associate superintendents by phone or email.

While Slayman is not at work, she said, other district administrators are available to field questions and solve problems.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 3:41 PM with the headline "3-hour Chester school board meeting ends with no action; superintendent absent."