A two-year saga has come to a close for Lowndes County Superintendent Lynn Wright, whose name was cleared Wednesday when Lowndes County Chancery Court Judge Dorothy Colom ruled he was wrongfully terminated as principal of New Hope High School in 2010.
Wright, along with baseball coach Stacy Hester, was fired by the Lowndes County School District’s Board of Trustees on May 17, 2010 for his purported role in Hester’s purchase of a $15,000 lawn mower.
Both filed lawsuits against the district in October 2011, alleging they were fired due to personality conflicts, namely that then-Superintendent Mike Halford and former LCSD Board President Dr. Robert Buckley had a vendetta against Hester, and Wright was caught in the crossfire for supporting him.
Hester had been the head baseball coach at New Hope High School for 18 years when he was fired, in 2009, for purchasing a John Deere Fairway lawn mower for the school two years previously. Halford said the purchase was illegal and done without the school board’s authority and recommended the board terminate Hester and Wright, who Halford said failed to comply with district purchasing and accounting procedures and assisted Hester by signing a document connected to the allegedly illegal purchase. He also said Wright was insubordinate.
Wright had served as principal at the school since 2007.
In her opinion and final judgment, Colom stated the Court found the board’s decision “was not supported by substantial evidence and was arbitrary and capricious.”
“There is not a scintilla of evidence that Wright was involved in Hester’s scheme to acquire the equipment,” Colom wrote. “There is not a scintilla of evidence that Wright had any involvement in acquiring the school district’s tax exemption number. Nor was there any evidence that Wright failed to supervise Hester.”
She thereby reversed the board’s termination decision, saying Wright’s involvement was based “solely on suspicion.”
The Chancery Court ruled against Hester in his appeal, upholding the school board’s termination of his contract. He is now appealing the ruling with the state Supreme Court.
“The primary problem for both is the damage to their reputations,” said Tupelo attorney Jim Waide, who represented Wright and is representing Hester in his ongoing lawsuit.
Hester was recently hired as head baseball coach at Brandon High School in Brandon.
Wright said Friday he was “relieved and thankful” to have the board’s decision overruled.
“It was a relief for someone to finally review the facts and clear my name,” Wright said, adding he hopes Hester’s case can soon be resolved for all involved.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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