photo by David Snow

Demopolis City Schools board members vote to honor the existing contact with superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers.

Board: DHS principal search is our priority

By David Snow (Contact) | Demopolis Times

Published Friday, June 12, 2009

DEMOPOLIS — The Demopolis City Schools board of education met in special session on Thursday with regard to the recent revelations that superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers had applied for similar positions in other Alabama school districts.

Vickers is a finalist for the superintendent position at Saraland City Schools and was a candidate for the same position with Leeds City Schools, although he had withdrawn his name from contention in that search.

The board unanimously voted to honor the contract currently in place with Vickers. Vickers was not in attendance at the special meeting, which was attended by all five board members.

“There is a procedure in place to review the contract,” said school board chair Gary Holemon. “The board has to contact the superintendent in writing if the contract will not be renewed by January 1, or we can renew his contract, or there is an automatic renewal provision, where it renews for another year.

“Basically, what we’re saying today is that there is a contract in place, there is a procedure in place to handle all of this, and we’re going to stick with that.”

Holemon said that in the event that a superintendent gets a job somewhere else, he must come before the board to be let out of his contract.

“The history has been that individuals in that situation are let out of their contract,” he said. The contract allows for either party to opt-out by mutual agreement.

Holemon said the contract could be renewed, but that determination would come at a more appropriate time prior to the Jan. 1 deadline, likely in November or December.

“There is a job for the superintendent to do,” he said. “We need to be focusing on finding a high-quality individual for principal (at Demopolis High School) and several other key positions in the school system. That’s what we need to be focusing on right now.”

Among those positions to be filled are program director for special education services, which became open when Eleanor Bailey retired last month, and a baseball assistant coach at Demopolis High School.

Regarding the principal search for Demopolis High School, Holemon said that the board would use the services of Dr. Neil P. Hyche, a former superintendent of Tuscaloosa County Schools to help with the search.

“He helped us recruit (former DHS principal) Isaac Espy; he helped us recruit Dr. Vickers,” Holemon said. “He does a lot of evaluations throughout the state and has many, many contacts. Dr. Hyche has served us well in the past, and that’s who we’ll be using for our principal.”

Holemon said the board would take applications for the other positions to find the best candidate for those positions.

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