Clayton school board fires superintendent

The Clayton County school board has fired the superintendent brought in 11 months ago to save the troubled system’s accreditation, saying he’s now part of the problem.

John Thompson was dismissed Saturday, about a month before the 47,000-student district has one more chance to prove it deserves to be reaccredited. If it fails, the district would need to start over, a process that could take about three years.

Jessica McGowan / AJC

John Thompson was fired from his post as Clayton schools superintendent three months before his contract expired.

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Valya Lee, assistant superintendent of student support services, was named interim superintendent. Lee, who started in Clayton in 1993 as a teacher, said she is not interested in the permanent position.

Thompson’s unanimous firing is effective immediately. He did not attend the Saturday meeting of the board.

In a prepared statement issued Saturday night, Thompson said, “The Board of Education today voted to end our employment relationship, now that the SACS report has been delivered.”

He referred to a report the Clayton school district is submitting to the accreditating agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, in an attempt to regain its accreditation.

“None of the current members were on the Board when I was hired, and the Board is now in the midst of a superintendent search in which I had chosen not to participate,” Thompson said in the statement.

“Under the circumstances, the Board has every right to move in a different direction and select a superintendent with whom they can create a new relationship. I wish them well in that process.”

Thompson, 64, was the county’s third superintendent in four years.

The former college basketball player dominated the scene with his outsized personality and penchant for flashy clothes. He once wore a silver leather suit to a school event.

But he rankled some people with his take-command style, such as when he ordered high school diplomas shredded because they didn’t bear his signature.

Board members said Saturday they feel Thompson is disloyal and hurt staff morale. No specifics about how the relationship went bad were cited.

“There are trust issues,” board member Wanda Smith said during the meeting that ended in Thompson’s firing. “If we can get a new superintendent, we’ll be OK.”

The board said in a statement Thompson’s dismissal “will also allow for a more open and cooperative working relationship between the board, staff and accreditation officials.”

The leader of SACS said the board is heading in the right direction.

“It is clear this board is committed to a fresh start,” SACS President and Chief Executive Officer Mark A. Elgart said Saturday. “They are changing the way business is done in the school system.”

Clayton County is the only school system in the United States to lose accreditation in 40 years.

Loss of accreditation affects everything about a school system, such as where students go to college and teachers’ benefits. In Clayton, it resulted in 3,500 students fleeing the district, the loss of $23 million in state aid and a drop in property values.

When it hired Thompson in April 2008, the Clayton board was being investigated by SACS for the second time in five years over problems such as micromanaging and abuse of power by board members. SACS gave them until September 2008 to meet nine improvement mandates.

Thompson — who was hired as the “corrective superintendent” — promised to turn around the system. He was given an annual salary of $285,000 but his total annual package was worth $400,000 and included monthly housing and transportation stipends and other perks.

“It’s inspiring to me to see little babies concerned,” Thompson said on his first day on the job. “I look at their eyes and they are looking for me to be their savior.”

But in August 2008, SACS revoked Clayton’s accreditation after only one mandate had been met: that board members live in their election districts.

“That was the beginning of our lack of belief and trust,” Clayton County Education Association president Sid Chapman said Saturday.

SACS officials criticized the superintendent’s contract — which allowed him to violate board policies and circumvent board authority.

The contract was later amended, but only after Thompson spent hundreds of thousands of dollars without board approval. He added administrators and placed his personal attorney as a consultant to the district.

The final straw came last week when dozens of teachers were laid off, Chapman said.

“We were told certified and tenured teachers were safe,” he said. “He brought in new people and laid off tenured teachers.”

Cyd Cox, one of four parents at Saturday’s meeting, said the county doesn’t need more controversies — or to spend any more money.

“With the way we get rid of superintendents, if I was an applicant, I wouldn’t want to come down here because you never know when your board will turn on you,” said Cox, president of the Clayton Council of PTAs.

In addition to the disgruntled teachers, Thompson has spent recent weeks feuding with some board members over how they interact with staff. Thompson prohibited all staff from talking with board members, saying he wanted to avoid micromanaging.

Yet some board members have said Thompson overstepped his bounds, punishing staff for talking to a board member about a new grandchild.

“Central office people have been written up for talking to the board,” said board Chairman Alieka Anderson said. “We want to get past this. We want a superintendent we can trust.”

Clayton is the fifth largest school system in Georgia and 75 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced meals at school.

Thompson’s contract, which expires June 30, allows the board to fire him without a cause as long as they pay the remainder of his salary — about $85,000 — and benefits.

In his statement of Saturday night, Thompson said, “I have poured my heart and soul into this incredibly difficult job, which has been the most demanding superintendent’s position in America over the past year.”

“The report submitted yesterday to SACS in many ways completes the job for which I was hired. I leave here confident that we have accomplished what many said could not be done in the short time we had available, and proud of our hard work together.”