School board approves of 9 charges against superintendent - KNOE 8 News; KNOE-TV; KNOE.com |

MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News) - The Monroe City School Board met Monday morning to decide what's next for suspended superintendent Kathleen Harris.

"It's a complete waste of time, it's a witch hunt." said board member Glynn Ludley, who is only one of two members who voted to not charge suspended superintendent Kathleen Harris at a special called meeting Monday morning.

Ludley expressed frustration over the board's focus on ousting Harris...whose un-renewed contract ends in December. "We've got failing schools, we've got kids who can't read and write and our emphasis should be on them." said Ludley.

The board voted to approve of 9 charges against Harris. They stem from the investigation completed by attorney Dennis Blunt, whose findings were only released to board members. "We are real pleased with some of the charges we found that we were concerned about in terms of the financial operations." said board president Verbon Muhammad.

The charges are as follows:

Charge #1 - Violation of board policy in connection with the shifting of significant roles and responsibilities from executive directors to their subordinate employees who did not have these duties within their job descriptions.

Charge #2 - Violation of board policy in connection with failure to maintain accurate and up-to-date job descriptions.

Charge #3 - Violation of board policy in connection with the assignment of personnel to higher interim positions rather than providing the board with additional candidates after the Board exercised its right to reject previous recommendations.

Charge #4 - Violation of board policy in connection with the assignment of personnel to positions through the creation of new "interim" positions.

Charge #5 - Violation of state law and board policy in connection with the handling of personnel files.

Charge #6 - Breach of the contract in connection with the failure to submit an application for the $3 million School Improvement Grant.

Charge #7 - Breach of the contract in connection with failure to maintain the board's healthy financial condition.

Charge #8 - Breach of the contract in connection with the failure to provide accurate budget information to the board.

Charge #9 - Breach of the contract in connection with the failure to properly and effectively communicate and collaborate with the board

"The charges warrant termination, but we are open to just simply  buying it out rather than going to a hearing." said the board president and while Muhammad felt pleased with the meetings results, Ludley did not share the same sentiment.

"We need to be doing things to try to get this school system moving." said Ludley.

As for the cost of the investigation, the school board president says the dollar amount is still unknown. We reached out to Harris' attorney for comment, but as of news time she has not returned our calls. The suspended superintendent's hearing is scheduled for August 28th at 9 a.m.