It has taken four tries, but the board of the Starkville School District will meet today at 1:30 p.m. in closed session in what is supposed to bring closure to a hush-hush situation.
The meeting was first set for noon Monday, then moved to 4 p.m. Monday before being bumped to noon Wednesday. On Tuesday, it was moved again, this time to 1:30 p.m. today so that all board members could be present.
The agenda for today simply announces the only item of business being a determination for the need to go into executive session. In a closed session, only the board, its attorney and anyone else they request may be present. The public and media are not allowed to hear what is going on, although the board must announce the reason they are going into closed session.
Results of any action taken can be announced after the closed session and will be revealed in the board minutes when they are approved and available to the public as much as a month later.
Last Wednesday, the board met in closed session to handle what they would only say was a personnel issue. By Friday, rumors were flying over who was out and why, but board president Pickett Wilson confirmed that Judy Couey was still superintendent of the school district.
Later information confirmed that while Couey was still superintendent in name, she was on leave and not on school district property. The district released a statement with limited information Monday.
“The board is confident in the building level leadership at each school. (Starkville School District”s) Assistant Superintendents, Dr. Walter Gonsoulin and Dr. Beth Sewell, will continue to provide direction and support to the schools and other departments under their supervision,” the statement read.
The closed meeting will be held in the board room of the Greensboro Center. According to the district”s statement on Monday, the board “expects a resolution at that time.”
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