The Starkville School District sent a memo to administrators this week reminding them to use care and abide by school policies when advocating for a new superintendent.
Since Monday, unidentified teachers and administrators have spread petitions to obtain signatures of employees in support of Dr. Walter Gonsoulin, current assistant superintendent and semifinalist for superintendent.
Teachers and other employees of the district contacted board members expressing concern that petitions, passed around during school hours, represented an official endorsement of Gonsoulin.
Board Attorney Dolton McAlpin sent a memo Wednesday to administrators outlining proper ways to support a candidate for the job.
According to the memo, a principal made an announcement that petitions were available for signatures at a faculty meeting and later sent an email reminding employees where they could find the petition if they wanted to sign it.
“Each employee of the Starkville School District has a right to express his or her opinion to the School Board about who should be selected as superintendent of this school district by petition or in some other manner,” McAlpin wrote in the memo. “However, under no circumstances may coercion or compulsion of any kind, subtle or otherwise, be used to secure the signature of any employee on a petition, nor may school resources or time be used in mounting a petition drive for Dr. Gonsoulin or for any other candidate.”
Board President Keith Coble said the board will run a fair and open selection process. Coble stressed no one’s freedom of speech would be violated but encouraged supporters of any candidates to do it the right way.
“We set out on how we wanted to do it, what (Mississippi School Boards Association) recommended to us,” Coble said. “We feel comfortable with that process. We think it’s a very open process.
“The board has decided on how it will solicit input from the community, and that hasn’t changed.”
The school board will begin semifinalist interviews in executive session Monday.
Gonsoulin said he’s grateful for support he receives but said he’s not steering the petitions. He said an administrator talked to him in December about employees planning to support him but he referred them to McAlpin and current Interim Superintendent Beth Sewell on how to proceed.
“I kind of forgot about it after that,” he said. “I wanted to let the process kind of take its place. I’d already been through the interviews and being a finalist for two other jobs, and that’s how I went about it with those jobs.
“I think everything has gotten quashed, and I thank the Lord for that.”
Gonsoulin said he’s concerned about the perception the petitions may create — considering he’s an in-house candidate — and how that may affect his candidacy. He will interview with the board in executive session on Tuesday. If he’s selected as a finalist, he’ll interview with the public on Feb. 6.
“Like I was telling one of the board members, I love Starkville School District, and I love Starkville more,” Gonsoulin said. “All the controversy we had last year (with the resignation of superintendent Judy Couey), if this causes all of that, I have no problem withdrawing from the race. They assured me I didn’t have to do that and I’d be given a fair chance.”
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