CCBOE president addresses former superintendent’s settlement

“Not gonna happen,” is how the Coffee County Board of Education president described references in the former schools superintendent’s separation agreement to serving as a consultant to the board.

Although not a scheduled speaker at the Coffee County Republican Women meeting Aug. 19, CCBOE President Shag LaPrade asked to address the meeting about the recent separation agreement between the BOE and former superintendent Dr. Don McPherson.

The CCBOE had ended McPherson's term as superintendent with a 4-3 vote July 9. LaPrade, Mike Bailey, Brian McLeod and Galen McWaters voted in favor of ending McPherson's term. Jimmy Clark, Rubin McKinnon and Larry Eddins voted against the motion.

McPherson had been hired as the Coffee County superintendent in 2011. His contract was extended for another six years by the board in 2013.

After the recent vote to end McPherson’s contract, LaPrade read a written statement saying that the separation of McPherson and the board was a mutual decision.

"The term of Dr. McPherson serving as superintendent of the Coffee County Board of Education ended tonight as a result of ongoing negotiations between Dr. McPherson and the board," LaPrade said in July. "Dr. McPherson's contract has been concluded by mutual agreement. The separation agreement between Dr. McPherson and the board will fully and finally resolve all differences between the board and Dr. McPherson."

The CCBOE chose Terry Weeks to be the system’s interim superintendent at a special board meeting, July 13. Weeks had previously held the position of the Coffee County BOE special programs coordinator.

Under the separation agreement between the CCBOE and McPherson, “McPherson agrees to be and shall be transferred by the board from the position of superintendent to instead be a special consultant to the board.

“CCBOE hereby undertakes, agrees and warrants that compensation for McPherson’s services as a special consultant to the board, will be a gross pay of $21,037.50 per month for a term of 12 months.”

LaPrade told those attending Wednesday’s Coffee County Republican Women’s meeting that

“To settle the differences, we were not allowed to talk about what those differences were.

“The other thing that is in the settlement is that no one from either side can make disparaging remarks about the other, so I won’t do that,” LaPrade said. “The main thing that people saw was that $21,000 a month.

“The previous superintendent (McPherson) had four years left on his contract—which we were contesting— but he had four years,” LaPrade explained. “What we finally— Brian McCloud did a lot of legwork on it—got it down to two years. “

McPherson was earning some $120,000 a year, LaPrade said. “The reason that it's $21,000 is that we’re paying him two months pay (each month) for one year. That covers the two years settlement. So that gets rid of that.

“Another thing that you saw on TV is he (McPherson) said that he was looking forward to his new assignment as a consultant for the school board,” LaPrade said. “He has no access to anything that is the school system’s; no computers, no iPhones, no iPads, no codes.

“The only way he would do any work whatsoever is if the board had a formal meeting and we voted to give him an assignment,” LaPrade said. “Not gonna happen.

“What the reason behind that is that he needed one more year for retirement. He wanted that one more year and the reason that he wanted two years pay in one year is to raise his last three average,” LaPrade explained. “The ARS (Alabama Retirement Systems) don’t go along with that but that is between him and ARS.”

LaPrade said that an interim superintendent had been appointed, referring to Weeks. “We’ve appointed an interim and I’ve never seen anything in my life turn around as fast as what he has done,” he said. “Everything is just so much better. Everyone is working well.

“We didn’t want to do what we had to do but in the long term, taking care of students, it was the best thing to do,” LaPrade said. “If you have any questions I will talk to you afterwards, but I can’t discuss the differences.”