On 3-2 split vote, school board chooses Tim Parson as Chief

Posted June 12, 2019 at 8:18 am

Tim Parson 2 06-19.psd

Clinton County Schools will have a new superintendent effective July 1, 2019, and for the first time in several years, the person chosen to the lead the district is not a local individual.

On a split vote Monday evening, June 10, with all five board members present, they voted 3-2 to hire Tim Parson from Cumberland County, who is reportedly DPP (Director of Pupil Personnel) in that county’s school system.

The hiring of the superintendent, including setting the salary and term, was the only item of business, other than approving the board agenda.

There was no public comment period listed on the agenda since it was a special call meeting.

The motion to hire Parson was made by Gary Norris, seconded by Leslie Stockton and they, along with Sue Irwin, voted yes. Board chairman Kevin Marcum and member Bobbi Bair voted no, with the motion to hire Parson passing three to two.

The motion also set a $90,000 annual salary and a four year term, from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2023.

The classroom in which the meeting was held was full of individuals, apparently several of those who were not totally pleased with the outcome.

Although by law, no candidate’s name who applied for the superintendent’s position could be publicly released, apparently many residents were hoping another candidate would have been chosen.

Although there was no public comment period, after the meeting had been adjourned, one individual did ask “Is there no democracy here?” He further stated that if the position were an elected one, the outcome would have been different.

Board chairman Marcum told the individual that the there was a process that was followed in selecting the superintendent, and added the meeting was adjourned.

Monday night’s hiring of a replacement for current Superintendent Charlotte Nasief (who was not at the meeting), came following a two-month search and interview process that began in early April.

Nasief, who has been Clinton County Schools Superintendent for the past seven years, announced early in the year she would be stepping down to pursue other pathways effective June 30 of this year, but has and will continue to serve in that capacity up until that time.

The school board and a search committee formed to do the “leg work” on the applicants who had filed worked in conjunction with Tim Eaton, a Field Consultant with the Kentucky School Boards Association.

Although the search committee, made up of a board member, educators and other members of the community, helped narrow down the number of applicants, the board actually did the interviews with the few who were picked and ultimately the board itself made the final decision on who to hire.

During an initial joint meeting of the board and search committee with Eaton on April 8, it was announced that a total of 20 applications had been received. However, three of those were listed as “incomplete” leaving 17 official candidates.

Those left were broken down to 14 male applicants and three female and by in-state/out-of-state with 13 applicants from Kentucky and four from outside the state. The breakdown, however, did not list a number of “local applicants” and all applicant’s names were kept private up to the time of Monday night’s hiring.

(A separate article highlighting the new superintendent will be published in an upcoming edition of the Clinton County News.)

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The school board will be hosting a public hearing Thursday, June 13 at 5 p.m. at the Central Office to take public comments on the proposed tax rates, with a separate Public Notice appearing this week on the legal page.

The hearing will precede the monthly school board work session, with the board’s next regular scheduled meeting being next Monday, June 17 at 5 p.m. at the Central Office. All are open to the general public.