Administrative Mix-ups in store for Next Year

Jack Bandy

On April 29^th, Ed Jones was suspended with pay as the principal of West Jessamine High School; as of May 14^th Jones no longer officially held the position. By Kentucky law, the county’s superintendent leads a committee to select the new principal.

These circumstances pose an interesting situation when supplemented with Lu Young’s imminent departure as Jessamine County superintendent on July 1^st. Young will take a new position in the Fayette County school system. If Young and the committee don’t select a new principal before her departure, the replacement superintendent (whether permanent or temporary) would lead the selection process for the new principal.

Young has already met with the site-based decision-making council (May 21^st) and indicated her intention to appoint a new principal before her departure. The site-based decision-making council currently consists of Marci Smith, Josh Yost, Mark Miracle, Jessica Slaton, Jeff Ball, Vic Wiggins, and Leo Labrillazo, all of whom attended a “Special Meeting” on May 24^th for principal selection training. The training is led by the county’s chief operations officer, Jimmy Adams.

While the SBDM carries out principal selection, the task of selecting a replacement for Young falls on the school board. The process relies heavily on a “screening committee” which consists of the following:
-two teachers (chosen by district teachers)
-one board member* (appointed by the board chairman: Eugene Peel)
-one principal** (elected by district principals)
-one parent (elected by presidents of district parent-teacher organizations)
-one classified employee (selected by classified employees)

The screening committee will conduct an extensive review of applications and make final recommendations to the board. While the board is required to consider final recommendations from this screening committee, Kentucky law states that “the board shall not be required to appoint a superintendent from the committee’s recommendations.”

*Peel has appointed board member Amy Day
**District principals have selected Beth Carpenter from Rosenwald Dunbar