At first glance, a paper trail detailing an out-of-state trip former Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey took seems to be an open-and-shut case for board action, but there may be more to the story.
Follow-up conversations with some involved in the issue, including Couey, revealed additional information which may provide a different perspective.
School district documents show Couey was authorized to take a professional development trip to New Orleans from March 9-13.
Receipts and other documents acquired though a Freedom of Information request show Couey in Long Beach, Miss., on March 13, a town 70 miles east of New Orleans, and in Wiggins, Miss., on March 15. Wiggins is on Highway 49, and passing through this town is a common way to get from Long Beach and other coastal towns to Jackson and points farther north.
“You don”t remove a sitting superintendent for this nonsense,” Couey said Friday. “I was extremely careful about mileage on that van, and I kept up with it whether the bus barn knew about it or not.”
What is known is that the school board instructed Couey to take administrative leave in April, then one week later accepted her resignation, supposedly for health reasons, but agreed to an $80,000 settlement. The school district has released very little information on this event.
“We reached an agreement,” board president Keith Coble said Friday. “She had a contract with us. It was a mutual agreement.”
He said the board evaluated the situation, but speaking about this personnel issue “will expose the district to liability,” he said.
He called many of the rumors harsh, but said the board has to maintain confidentiality.
On Sunday, he said that when the board does not comment on legal and personnel matters; “it”s not just a matter of protecting the district from legal liability. There is a reason the law exists, and that is to protect individuals” rights.”
Couey said she told Tommy Carlisle, SSD director of maintenance and transportation, she wasn”t bringing the van directly back. Getting home is part of official business, she said.
As superintendent, she authorizes travel matters, including her own. As is typical with any chief executive, Couey said that when she needs a vehicle, someone gets it for her. She does not fill out the paperwork or pick it up herself, and she said she never saw the form with the memo requiring her to have it back by 8 a.m. March 13.
“I said I would bring it back after spring break,” Couey said.
She said she stayed at her mother”s house in Long Beach, and went to a doctor”s appointment in Jackson on her way back to Starkville.
Couey acknowledged that the district”s practice and policy are inconsistent on vehicle use, but said neither she nor previous superintendents have filled out and signed paperwork for their official use of district vehicles.
The SSD has policy GJ under Personnel called “Use of Vehicles.” This policy spells out reimbursement for use of personal vehicles, reasons for using a district vehicle, appropriate use of these vehicles and more.
The policy states that “personal use of an assigned vehicle is limited to commuting to and from work with minimal potential stops along a reasonable route between school district related business activities and an employee”s home, unless authorized by the superintendent or his or her designee.”
Among items listed as prohibited are “transporting self or others for purposes or activities other than those dealing with legitimate district business.” Failure to follow this policy means “the employee will be subject to disciplinary action, including termination.”
Walter Gonsoulin is the school district”s assistant superintendent for operations. He said he understood that Couey used the van for the conference, and when she returned, parked it at her house until the district offices opened after spring break.
Gonsoulin said he received a few reports of people seeing the district van in a few locations around the state, so he looked into the matter.
“I called maintenance and asked them who has the van, and … the only ticket they could find was Ms. Couey”s ticket,” Gonsoulin said.
Thinking the van was supposed to have already been returned on the Sunday that began spring break, he called Couey to ask if she had the van.
“She told me the board knew she was going to her mom”s house (in Long Beach) and the doctor in Jackson,” Gonsoulin said.
He confirmed that the van was returned Monday, March 21. He also said it has not been the district”s practice to keep a mileage log, recording odometer readings before and after trips. He also was unaware of the memo typed into Couey”s travel permit that stipulated the vehicle must be taken “to Greensboro Center at 8 a.m.” March 13.
Gonsoulin said he had not heard of such memos being made and would check into it.
When she returned after spring break, Couey wrote the school district a check for 56 miles of personal use she put on the vehicle. Two weeks later, she wrote a check for $419.95 to the school district that the board demanded of her.
Coble, Gonsoulin and district comptroller Rob Logan were unable to give a reason why Couey wrote this second check, though Logan said the district expects compensation for personal use of district vehicles.
“You”d have to ask the board about the other,” Logan said.
Speaking for the board, Coble said he couldn”t discuss personnel matters.
“If we as a board could satisfy the curiosity without violating a legal situation, we would,” Coble said.
He did not say this use of a district vehicle caused the board to accept Couey”s resignation.
“Boards and superintendents go their separate ways for a variety of reasons,” Coble said. “I can”t expose the district to liability that will detract from being able to educate children by violating a legal situation.”
Timeline to Couey”s resignation
· April 20: The school board met in closed session. It was later learned that they directed Couey to take administrative leave for health reasons.
· April 25: Then-board president Pickett Wilson released a statement from the board. It said that assistant superintendents Beth Sewell and Walter Gonsoulin were providing direction and support to the district, and schools were under the capable hands of their principals.
· April 27: The school board accepted Couey”s resignation in closed session. She was not present for this lengthy meeting. Minutes of this meeting are available.
· May 6: Wilson released a statement from the board announcing an $80,000 financial settlement with Couey.
“The board agreed to a settlement because parties with competing claims often negotiate a resolution rather than pursing action which would result in a costly and protracted legal battle,” the statement said.
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