By MARK NORRIS
Published 25 July 2011 07:58 AM
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Superintendent Kathy Augustine has been on paid leave since July 11, her first day on the job.
Photo: John F. Rhodes / Staff Photographer
By MARK NORRIS
Staff Writer
mnorris@dallasnews.com
The DeSoto ISD school board’s meeting melted down Monday night as trustees adjourned with no decision on the fate of superintendent Kathy Augustine.
Trustees left a closed-door meeting abruptly after about two hours, as board president Warren Seay announced they would table the issue of Augustine’s employment until the next board meeting, scheduled for Aug. 8.
The board room, filled with parents and community members, became chaotic as trustees quickly left with no explanation.
Only four of seven trustees — barely a quorum — were present at Monday night’s regularly scheduled meeting. Van Stripling, Curt Krohn and Aubrey Hooper were absent.
“It is important that the full board, all seven members, participate in the discussion and make the best decision for DeSoto school children,” Seay said in a written statement issued Tuesday morning.
Augustine has been on paid leave since July 11, her first day as DeSoto superintendent, after a report detailing a yearlong investigation found pervasive cheating in Atlanta schools while she served as that district’s second-in-command.
Augustine, who did not attend Monday’s meeting, has said she played no role in the cheating scandal and was upset other educators altered students’ answers.
Longtime DeSoto administrator Levatta Levels has taken her place as acting superintendent.
Sandra Wheeler, the only trustee to speak to reporters after the meeting and a critic of Augustine’s hiring, hinted that poor attendance prevented a decision.
Wheeler said she hadn’t known that so many other board members wouldn’t attend Monday.
“This is such an important decision that our entire board should be present to express their opinion on the direction we take on the matter,” she said.
Wheeler also said “you have to have four” when asked why a decision on a potential voluntary exit agreement wasn’t able to be made.
Seay declined to answer questions about the confusing end to the meeting or whether a board member had left during the closed-door session.
Community members who had waited almost four hours for a decision were left confused and stunned by the board’s inaction.
“We want to take this issue off the front page and focus on the kids,” DeSoto ISD parent Jeff Sherels said. “This is not cool to sit here for a couple of hours and we learn we’re no better off than when this started.”
DeSoto resident Kenneth Marmon was blunt.
“I think other communities will laugh at us,” he said. “I’m very disappointed.”
Before trustees went behind closed doors to consider a decision on a voluntary exit agreement with Augustine, they heard from upset community members.
“We’re facing public scrutiny,” said Cecil Lofton, a critic of the board’s decision to hire Augustine. “We’re spending tax dollars on a superintendent who isn’t here.”
But DeSoto resident Kim Fatica said nothing Augustine has been accused of rises to the level of criminal wrongdoing.
“She has been met with nothing but slurs,” Fatica said.
Georgia’s investigation, ordered last year by Gov. Sonny Perdue, found that 178 educators were involved in the cheating and that some changed students’ answers on state tests to improve their scores.
Since then, numerous Atlanta administrators and school officials have resigned.
Georgia investigators said that Augustine authorized a letter to state officials falsely claiming no evidence of cheating existed at one school and that she illegally kept a report from Atlanta media that suggested cheating took place at some schools.
Staff writer Matthew Haag contributed to this report.
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