In addition to being put on notice for possible suspension of school board duties, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved a motion today to withhold the allotment of $13,510 per month, an amount which funds the state’s appointment of Rodney Shotwell as interim superintendent.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s communications department confirmed the state board passed the motion unanimously.
The motion notes that Weldon City Schools is currently identified as a continually low-performing school district and that on March 26 the local board hired Shotwell as interim superintendent beginning on April 1 at a total monthly salary of $13,510.
“Amid concerns that the Weldon board was not cooperating with Dr. Shotwell in approving or implementing Dr. Shotwell’s sound fiscal and personnel recommendations and was otherwise acting outside of its statutory authority, the State Board of Education assumed Dr. Shotwell’s appointment as the Weldon interim superintendent by appointing Dr. Shotwell as the state board’s interim superintendent for the Weldon City Schools.”
The state board, through NCDPI, authorizes funding to the Weldon City Schools for the salaries and benefits of central office administrators, including the superintendent, through the central office administration allotment.
The state board’s policy DSTR-041 provides that the SBE shall appoint the interim superintendent under a contract of employment and the interim superintendent shall be an employee of DPI. The SBE may retain or recover any state funds that DPI has allocated to the district that the district could have used to pay its superintendent’s salary and benefits and use those funds to pay the salary and benefits due under the interim superintendent’s contract.
As Shotwell is now the state board-appointed interim superintendent in Weldon the money allotted and budgeted to pay his salary should be directed to DPI for the payment of his salary, the motion says.
The state board’s adopted allotment formula regarding central office administration allows it to direct NCDPI to reduce the allotment in the amount of the total salary and benefits for the interim superintendent from all funding sources.
Ultimately the state board voted to allow DPI to reduce Weldon’s central office administration allotment in the amount of $13,510 per month plus the associated benefits, equal to the monthly salary and benefits that Shotwell was receiving under his March 26 contract.
The amount is to be appropriately prorated for the amount due to Shotwell for his work in Weldon after July 11 and until July 31 on behalf of the state board.
The deduction of that monthly amount from the Weldon central office administration allotment is to continue until Shotwell’s appointment by the state board ends.
