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The North Carolina State Board of Education is giving the Weldon City Schools Board of Education 45 days to respond to a report that could ultimately end in the suspension of their duties if changes are not made.

This was one of two actions approved by the state board today, the other being a recommendation to withhold from Weldon’s central office administration allotment $13,510 per month to fund the state appointment of Rodney Shotwell as the system’s interim superintendent.

The action came out of a closed session Wednesday and the board acted unanimously on the measures today, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s communications office confirmed.

Areas of concern

The notice to suspend notes that the state board has identified several specific areas of acute concern with the operation and academic performance of Weldon City Schools.

They include the following:

Continually low-performing academic status

The student achievement scores of Weldon City Schools have put the district in “low-performing” status for all but one of the last five years, which means that the school district is in “continually low-performing” status. Initial analysis of the test scores for the 2023-24 academic year continue to show exceptionally poor academic performance by the school district, with passage rates as low as 20 percent to 30 percent in some grades or classes. “The primary mission of the school district is to educate students,” the notice says. “Evidence shows that this is not happening for a significant majority of students in the Weldon City Schools. This is unacceptable to the state board of education, the state superintendent and the Department of Public Instruction under her supervision. It should also be unacceptable to the Weldon City Board of Education.”

Frequent turnover and buyouts of superintendents 

The state board and superintendent of public instruction are aware of the frequent turnover in superintendents for the school district. The last two permanent superintendents for the district each served for less than a year, five months and 10 months respectively, before their contracts were bought out by the local board at a total cost of approximately $300,000 of local funds — funds that were not spent on students, the notice says.

Inability to attract and retain quality administrative employees

The school district has also been unable to find or retain quality permanent employees for key staff positions, including most recently those of superintendent, finance officer, director of human resources, executive director of exceptional children, director of curriculum and instruction, and principal of the elementary school. “In the spring of 2024, there were vacancies in all of these positions. Some of them were filled temporarily with interim employees who would soon be vacating the positions,” the notice said.

Refusal without cause to approve personnel recommendations by interim superintendent

Shotwell was brought on by the Weldon City Board in April.

“Dr. Shotwell’s recommendations to the Weldon City Board to fill the vacant administrative positions … except that of superintendent, were all voted down by the Weldon City Board of Education at its June 20 meeting without any rational or acceptable explanation being given by the Weldon City Board of Education,” the notice said. “Those positions currently remain vacant, except those of the executive director of exceptional children and the executive director of curriculum and instruction, which were filled at the Weldon City Board’s July 18 meeting.” 

The notice says this leaves many of the key leadership positions in the district unfilled with only a few weeks left to prepare for the opening of Weldon City Schools on August 12. “This is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed.”

Financial concerns 

“In addition to the wasteful use of money to buy out two superintendents in the last few years, the state board has significant concerns about the ongoing poor fiscal management of the schools,” the notice says. “When Dr. Shotwell took office, he discovered that there were several individuals being paid as district employees for Weldon City Schools and who were cashing their paychecks, but who never came to work and were not performing any duties for the school district.”

Further, the district has several contracts with outside vendors to provide online instructional support for teachers. “Dr. Shotwell has indicated that these contracted services have either not been used or have been rarely used by teachers.”

At the Weldon City Board’s June meeting, Shotwell recommended that these contracts be terminated as they are unnecessary and wasteful. The local board specifically discussed an ongoing online subscription purchased by the human resources department three years ago, which was renewed annually but never used. The local board declined to terminate those contracts.

At the Weldon City Board’s June 20 meeting and the July 8 specially called meeting, Shotwell recommended several contracts that he felt would improve instruction and operation of the school district, including a school improvement and leadership coaching model with Educentric, and an Education Staffing Solutions contract to provide substitute teaching services for the 2024-25 school year. The Weldon City Board tabled these proposed contracts and has not yet acted upon them.

Factual findings

On July 11 the state board of education appointed Shotwell as the state board’s interim superintendent because the local board was not following his sound recommendations.

“Since Dr. Shotwell’s appointment as the state board’s appointed interim superintendent, the Weldon City Board has continually failed to cooperate with him and has otherwise hindered the ability to improve student performance in the Weldon City Schools.”

Says the notice: “The Weldon City Schools low-performing academic status and the financial disarray of the school district come down to the failure of the Weldon City Board of Education to find, hire, retain, support and/or show respect for qualified personnel and to let those quality staff members who are in place do the jobs for which they were hired, free from harassment, micromanagement, and interference.”

The state describes Shotwell as an experienced and strong leader, with over 23 years of experience as a local school superintendent in North Carolina. “During that time Dr. Shotwell was named North Carolina Superintendent of the Year. Dr. Shotwell was able to bring in a quality experienced interim human resources director, who not only was an experienced and respected human resources professional, but also an experienced local superintendent.”

The notice says the interim human resources director has indicated his intent to resign out of frustration, due to perceived harassment and lack of support by the Weldon City Board. “These actions by the Weldon City Board cannot continue.”

Working group

Over the last six months, the state board has convened a working group, consisting of state board members Alan Duncan, Wendell Hall, and Jill Camnitz, as well as state board general counsel to work with the Weldon City Board. “The working group has spent a significant amount of time meeting with the Weldon City Board, interviewing potential interim superintendent candidates, and monitoring the local board meetings trying to work with the Weldon City Board to get the local board to make the necessary improvements.”

DPI has also assigned additional coaching and support staff to try and help the district improve its academic standing.

“Beginning at the June 20 meeting of the Weldon City Board, where the local board failed to approve Dr. Shotwell’s personnel recommendations and to terminate wasteful contracts, the cooperation between the Weldon City Board, the interim superintendent, and the state board working group has essentially ceased,” the notice says. “Because of the local board’s failure to work with the interim superintendent, the members of the working group and SBE general counsel met with the Weldon City Board on July 9, 2024, in Weldon at a specially called meeting of that local board.”

At the meeting, the working group expressed its intent to recommend to the full state board that it appoint Shotwell as the SBE’s interim superintendent in Weldon because of the local board’s failure to cooperate with him. “Instead of accepting responsibility for its failures, the Weldon City Board demanded that the state board allocate additional funds to the local district to pay for Dr. Shotwell’s contract and insisted that it would not allow local funds to be used pay Dr. Shotwell to keep him at the same salary level that the Weldon City Board had negotiated.” 

The state board members indicated that no additional allocations would be made by the state board to the local board and that the local board was expected to provide the funds already allocated in its budget to keep Shotwell at the same salary. “A local board representative said to SBE Vice Chairman Alan Duncan in public session, ‘I’m disappointed in you’ in response to the indication that no additional funds would be allocated.”

The comments from the local board did not center around the academic and other needs of students, but about funding issues and local authority. 

There was also no indication that the local board intended to cooperate with the state board or the interim superintendent to improve student outcomes.

Following the July 9 meeting, the state board has received two written communications from the Weldon City Board’s attorney. The first was a letter that threatened litigation against the state board if it attempted to take local funds to pay Shotwell’s salary. 

The second was to communicate back to the SBE, in response to a proposed transfer of funds to the DPI to pay Shotwell’s salary, that it was important to the local board that it not continue to use local funds to pay any part of Shotwell’s salary although the use of local funds to pay Shotwell that had already been provided for in the Weldon City budget. 

The local funds at issue amounted to approximately $2,500-$3,000 per month.

“This is not the conduct of a board that understands the critical and pressing need to improve student performance or accepts responsibility by working with the state board to remedy the failures that led to the dire situation that the Weldon City Schools are currently facing,” the notice says. “It is the result of the Weldon City Board’s lack of cooperation and failure to accept responsibility for the situation in which it finds itself that leave the state board no other option than to provide this notice and move to the next statutory step of intervention.”

Expectations of the Weldon City Board of Education 

In order for the Weldon City Board members to avoid suspension of their duties by the state board of education in 60 days, the Weldon City Board members must:

General

Approve recommendations made by the interim superintendent unless there is documented, legally defensible, good cause reason for refusing to approve them.

Treat all individuals, staff members, and other board members with respect in both the open and closed sessions of board meetings and while engaging in school business.

Undergo training on the policy and oversight role of the local board, as well as the authorities and duties of the superintendent and other school officials.

The two board members who have been absent from board meetings for the last several months due to illness are exempted from this requirement as they have not participated in the last several problematic meetings.

Refrain from issuing directives to individual staff members.

Refrain from undermining the interim superintendent or district staff with the community, students, or other staff.

Avoid engaging in nepotism or cronyism by attempting to get the interim superintendent to make decisions and recommendations to benefit relatives or friends.

Academic

Make all decisions in the best interests of students with a focus on the academic improvement of all students.

Cooperate with the state board of education and the interim superintendent in approving and implementing recommendations designed to improve the instruction being provided by Weldon City Schools.

Financial

Make sound financial decisions based upon the objective needs of the district.

Agree to terminate contracts that are not financially beneficial to the district, as recommended by the interim superintendent.

Enter into contracts recommended by the interim superintendent which will improve efficiency in the operation of the school district.

Work to support Shotwell’s continued employment as interim superintendent for Weldon City Schools.

Continue to reimburse Shotwell for his expenses incurred in providing services to the district, consistent with the hotel and mileage charges provided in the Weldon City Board’s March 26, 2024, contract.

Personnel

Hire the best qualified persons who apply or can be recruited for positions, as recommended by the interim superintendent.

Refuse to retain individuals who are not successful or productive in their positions.

Refrain from recommending unqualified people for positions.

Abstain from conducting their own personnel investigations. “This is the job of the interim superintendent and his staff and is not appropriate for board members to conduct.”

Undergo training on the proper and legal role of local board members in personnel matters and follow the training.

The two board members who have been out the last few months due to illness are exempted from this requirement as they have not been present in the last several problematic meetings.