<\/b>By Bob Lindsey<\/b><\/p>\n
Former Ferguson-Florisssant superintendent Art McCoy and the school board\u2019s somewhat surprising announcement on Wednesday, March 12 of his resignation could make the upcoming school board races even more interesting.<\/p>\n
McCoy and the school board issued a joint signed statement that McCoy was resigning effect March 14. It read: \u201cIt is mutually agreed and understood that full resolution of these matters is in the best interests of the Ferguson-Florissant School District. To those who have framed the issues as racially motivated, the parties are satisfied that each acted in good faith and with the best interests of the Ferguson-Florissant School District in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Wednesday night\u2019s council meeting there were a few comments about the resignation from board members. Board member Brian Little was the only one who voted against approving the agreement. Speaking at the meeting, he said he objected to just a \u201cfour line\u201d statement issued by the board. \u201cI believe the students, district and community deserve more than that, \u201che said and, \u201cI\u2019m deeply sorry\u201d there was not more from the board. Board president Paul Morris said, by law, all \u201cpersonnel records are secret and can\u2019t be revealed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outgoing board member Chris Martinez, who is not seeking reelection next month, \u201ccounted 11 sentences\u201d attributed to McCoy on the matter that appeared on Missouri Public Radio (MPR). He said he learned about McCoy\u2019s comments to MPR after \u201cwe got a signed mutual agreement.\u201d He wished the former superintendent \u201cgreat things\u201d in his next position.\u00a0 McCoy is in the running for presidency at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis.<\/p>\n
McCoy had been on paid suspension since last November. Parents and others had rallied around the superintendent late last year, which prompted a slate of three African-American candidates called \u201cGrade A For Change\u201d to run for the school board. They initially were concerned about the removing of a black superintendent by a school board with no African-American representation in a district with a majority of black students.<\/p>\n
A hearing was to be held on Wednesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 13 to allow McCoy to answer to charges from the board on the suspension.\u00a0 The hearing was planned for March 12 at 5:30 p.m., and was to be continued at the meeting on March 13\u00a0 The hearing would have been closed to the public and\u00a0 media. With McCoy resigning before the hearing could be held, the school board cannot make the charges against McCoy public even if it planned to. However, there was no indication that the board would have ever made them public.<\/p>\n
Still to be determined is what impact these latest events will have on the district school board races on Tuesday, Aug. 8. The slate of three candidates (F. Willis Johnson, Jr., Donna Paulette-Thurman and James A. Savala) who call themselves \u201cGrade A for Change\u201d had supported the superintendent.<\/p>\n
They are among the eight candidates for the school board on Tuesday, April 8. Other candidates include incumbent board president Paul T. Morris and director Rob Chabot. The other three candidates are LaWanda Wallace, Kimberley A. Benz and Larry Thomas. (Bios on all the candidate will appear in the April 3rd<\/sup> issue of The Independent News)<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Bob Lindsey Former Ferguson-Florisssant superintendent Art McCoy and the school board\u2019s somewhat surprising announcement on Wednesday, March 12 of his resignation could make the upcoming school board races even more interesting. McCoy and the school board issued a joint signed statement that McCoy was resigning effect March 14. It read: \u201cIt is mutually agreed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-school-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n