Interim Chester County schools leader Callicutt resigns

Keith Callicutt, interim superintendent of Chester County schools, announced Monday he will resign at the end of January – or sooner, if the school board finds a replacement.

In a statement released Monday by the district, Callicutt said he was “not the right person for the job.”

The Chester County school board in September hired Callicutt, a former Fort Mill schools superintendent, as its interim leader after the forced resignation of Superintendent Agnes Slayman.

In announcing his decision to leave, Callicutt said he had failed to help the district heal.

“After several months of listening and observing, while also making numerous efforts to help us heal and move on from past conflicts,” he said, “it has become clearly evident to me that I have failed in these efforts and that I am not the right person for the job.”

The school board is next scheduled to meet Jan. 25.

Denise Lawson, Chester County school board chairwoman, declined to comment Monday on Callicutt’s resignation. She said the board had no plans to meet before Jan. 25 to discuss a replacement.

“Right now, I don’t have any answers for you,” Lawson said.

“The board has been made aware of this, just as I was, so they have the information as well,” Lawson said. “I’ll just have to wait and see if a meeting (before Jan. 25) is necessary.

“But at this point in time, I do not have one scheduled,” she said.

Board member Patricia Hensley, a previous board chair, said Callicutt’s resignation “is indicative of the very severe problems that exist in Chester County. As a result, we have lost an outstanding superintendent and an interim superintendent.”

Hensley declined to elaborate or to make further comment.

Callicutt said in announcing his resignation that “when I accepted the responsibility as interim superintendent, I knew there would be challenges, but I was very hopeful that we could work together to bring our board, our school district and our community together so that we could better meet the needs of our students.

“My prayer is that you will find the right individual to effectively bring healing and direction for a new beginning,” Callicutt said. “There are a lot of caring and highly capable staff working in our district and they, along with students, deserve our very best.”

Callicutt declined further comment through the district’s public information representative, Brooke Clinton.

Callicutt led the Fort Mill school district in York County from 2005 to 2010, including shepherding through two large borrowing plans totaling nearly $165 million to pay for five new schools and repairs and additions to aging and cramped facilities.

Most recently, Callicutt worked in Florence County School District 3. There, he was hired as an interim superintendent, but saw his contract extended to a total of four years.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Interim Chester County schools leader Callicutt resigns."