JACKSON — The state Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments June 12 involving wrongful termination lawsuits filed by former New Hope High School principal Lynn Wright and longtime baseball coach Stacy Hester.
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.
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.
According to court records, 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.
Wright had served as principal at the school since 2007.
In 2012, a judge ruled Wright was wrongfully terminated. The judge said ruled because Wright was now superintendent of the Columbus schools, reinstatement was not possible. The judge awarded Wright $175,000 in back pay.
The school district appealed the ruling
A judge ruled against Hester in his lawsuit, upholding the school board’s termination of his contract. Hester, who is now baseball coach in Brandon, appealed the decision.
The Appeals Court consolidated the appeals for the June 12 hearing in Jackson.
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