Chester school board launches search for interim leader

The Chester County school board is expected to meet Wednesday to interview candidates for a second interim superintendent in four months.

The board hired a new law firm Monday to help with the sarch. Eugene Boyd, elected Monday night as board chairman, could not be reached Tuesday for details about the process.

But vice-chairwoman Sandra Stroman said she expects the board “will be hiring an interim superintendent as quickly as we can.”

Interim Superintendent Keith Callicutt, who was hired for that role in September, announced Jan. 11 that he would leave the job at the end of this month.

Callicutt, a former Fort Mill schools superintendent, said he had failed to help the district move forward after last year’s forced resignation of Superintendent Agnes Slayman.

Denise Lawson, outgoing board chair, said in the past the district’s law firm has brought to the board names of people who are candidates for interim superintendent.

Lawson also said Charles King, Chester County’s assistant superintendent over instruction, is certified to serve as interim superintendent and has held that role in the past.

The board, which has been deeply divided on major issues, split on a vote to hire a new Columbia law firm, Duff, White & Turner, for legal advice, including help in the search for an interim leader.

Board members Boyd, Stroman, Maggie James and Patricia Hensley voted to hire the new firm, while Richard Hughes and Lawson opposed the move. Member Laurens Ford Jr. abstained.

“Several of us felt in order to move forward, we needed to have a new slate,” Stroman said, referring to the change. “That was one more thing that we thought would help us move forward.”

Hughes moved to rehire Childs & Halligan of Columbia, the firm the district has worked with previously. Hughes, Lawson and Fort voted in favor of that, and Boyd, James, Hensley and Stroman opposed the move.

On Monday the board was divided again, during a meeting packed with 150 people, as some members tried to quell rumors in the community that it might rehire Slaymon.

The board agreed 4-0 that it “will not go back and hire any former superintendent.” Hughes made the motion, and Lawson, Boyd and Fort voted in favor. Stroman, James and Hensley did not vote.

Stroman said she didn’t vote because “I just didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do ... I didn’t want to be coerced or bullied into something that I didn’t think had a place there. I didn’t think it was very dignified.”

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Chester school board launches search for interim leader."