The CMS school board held its first meeting last night since board members approved a separation agreement with former Superintendent Heath Morrison. There was little mention of the drama over the past three weeks, except for a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting.
Board Chairwoman Mary McCray started the meeting reading from a statement.
“Tonight, I want to present you with the facts,” began McCray.
She proceeded by laying out a timeline. It began in early October when the board’s attorney informed her and Vice Chairman Tim Morgan of complaints against Morrison through when Morrison gave his resignation shortly before the board planned to meet to discuss the allegations.
She said all but one member of the board thought the process was fair and all but one member also agreed that Morrison needed to go. She was talking about Eric Davis.
“Although there was a 6-3 vote to accept the separation agreement, eight of us, and I’ll stress again, eight of us agreed that it was in the best interest of the district to separate,” said McCray.
Tom Tate says he voted against the agreement because he thought Morrison should receive severance. Paul Bailey says he wanted more information at the time, but ultimately felt the board came to the right decision.
“We’re looking at this as moving forward and doing the work that we have been elected to do and that our employees are charged to do,” McCray wrapped up.
With that, the meeting got underway. Board members approved boundary changes to make room for four new elementary schools. That will affect about 2,500 students.
It was hard to tell that anything was amiss, except Ann Clark occupied Morrison’s chair and the name plate beneath it was blank.
