Chester school board to weigh leadership amid turmoil

Days before the departure of the interim superintendent, the Chester County school board will discuss its leadership Monday, as members worry how a district mired in turmoil will move forward.

Keith Callicutt, whose last day is Friday, announced Jan. 11 that he would leave the interim post. Callicutt said he had failed to help the district heal after last year’s forced resignation of embattled Superintendent Agnes Slayman.

The school board, which has not met since Callicutt’s announcement, is scheduled to choose new board officers when it meets at 6 p.m. at the Chester County school district office.

Chairwoman Denise Lawson said the board also has four days to name an interim superintendent to run the district until it can make a permanent hire.

However, the board hasn’t vetted any candidates for that interim job, Lawson said.

“We have to have someone there,” she said. “Who that will be, I don’t know.”

Several other board members said they are concerned with persistent rumors in the community about the district’s search for a new superintendent and alleged efforts to rehire Slayman, fueled by what they say is an anonymous Facebook page.

Board member Richard Hughes said he has received about 10 calls or other contacts from constituents who told him they fear the board wants to bring Slayman back.

“It’s a concern of the people who contacted me, and none of them wanted her to come back,” said Hughes. He said Slayman “is still in the forefront, and that needs to be placed in the past and move on.”

Lawson has heard those concerns, too.

“There are a lot of people in the community that are upset about it,” she said. “I understand and respect their concerns.”

Slayman’s forced departure in September came after an independent investigative report commissioned by the school board, in which district employees made serious allegations against her, including claims she had threatened them physically and that she created “a hostile work environment.” Some of Slayman’s staffers have threatened legal action, according to the report.

The report by Betty Bagley, a retired public school superintendent and current adjunct instructor at Anderson University, included allegations by district employees that Slayman had made threatening remarks, including, “I will cut your throat out,” “I will kill you” and “will cut your legs off.”

It also alleged Slayman acted “spiteful, vengeful, mean, cruel, vicious ... insensitive, paranoid, moody, divisive and hostile” and that she employed a leadership style that was “selfish, vindictive, cruel and bullying.”

Hours after the report was published by The Herald, four Chester County school board members voted to accept Slayman’s request to be released from her contract but still collect two years’ pay with benefits for three months.

Board members who voted to accept Slayman’s resignation and pay her $300,000 were Hughes, Lawson, Laurens Fort Jr. and Sandra Stroman. Trustees Eugene Boyd, Patricia Hensley and Maggie James voted against the action.

Stroman, the board’s vice chairman, said rumors about the superintendent search posted on an apparently anonymous social media page make it hard for the district to move forward.

The Facebook page, in the name “Jerry Mandur,” featured posts about the Chester superintendent search earlier this month and last year. By Friday, it had apparently been removed from Facebook.

“That infuriates me,” Stroman said, “because we can’t move forward until people like that sit down and be quiet or come forward and let us know who that is. We are on the brink in Chester County of really coming into the forefront of the 21st century, and this kind of thing really aggravates me.

“It serves no purpose except to stir up trouble.”

Hughes and Fort both responded to constituents’ concerns about the possibility of Slayman’s return to the district, saying they would not support it.

“I would not in any way, shape or form vote to take her back,” Hughes said.

Fort said rehiring Slayman “would not help the children in any manner, and that’s who the district is supposed to be interested in. I don’t think we can gain anything by doing that. ... I don’t know if it will come to a vote or not.”

Stroman declined to comment on the possibility of Slayman’s return.

“I don’t want to give any credibility whatsoever by even commenting one way or another,” Stroman said. “I’m not at liberty to say what I’d like to say about the whole thing.”

Hensley declined several requests to answer specific questions. However, she read a prepared statement in which she called the situation in Chester County schools “most unfortunate.”

She said it has “destroyed an outstanding and nationally recognized academic program under the previous direction” of Slayman.

“A clandestine movement was instigated to remove her as superintendent for unknown reasons, and not for those previously reported,” Hensley said. “This covert activity is still active. I do not know any person who would knowingly want to participate in this turmoil.”

Efforts to reach James and Boyd for comment were unsuccessful last week.

Lawson said she would not agree to rehire Slayman.

“Dr. Slayman is in the past, and we need to move forward,” she said, adding that her concern will be what’s best for students, teachers and employees. “And I think what’s best for them is to move forward and not backward.”

About 10 residents have signed up to address the school board on Monday, Lawson said. Board rules dictate that anyone who wants to speak at its meetings must sign up to do so about a week in advance.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Chester school board to weigh leadership amid turmoil."