CCSD personnel hearing for LaFayette High counselor continues Oct. 17

During the second half of the personnel hearing for LaWendy Willis, a counselor at LaFayette High School, the Chambers County Board of Education heard testimony from two more witnesses and set a third date for completing the hearing for October 17 at 12 CST at the central office in LaFayette.

The board will hear from Willis and CCSD Superintendent Casey Chambley at the next meeting.

On Tuesday, the board attorney and Willis’ counsel finished the cross-examination of LHS Principal Christy Brock-Johnson and completed the CCSD Network Administrator Daniel Brooks examination.

Brooks spoke about his role and responsibilities toward the school district and its staff regarding the PowerSchool software system. Though he did not train Willis in the program, he said he sent weekly self-taught training courses by email to everyone in the district. According to Brooks, position-specific modules are also frequently sent out by the state Board of Education.

Willis’ attorney, Stanley Gray, asked Brooks whether he determined Willis to be at fault for the error in last year’s top three rankings at LaFayette High School. Brooks maintained that placing blame or punishment was not part of his job responsibilities.

Gray also presented an email between the board’s technology director, Michael Sanders, and the state BOE while they were gathering information about the training sessions that Willis attended. In an email thread, Sanders allegedly said that they were “trying to get our ducks in a row,” which Brooks said he could not speculate on the meaning.

Most of Tuesday’s hearing focused on the same issues regarding Willis’ termination recommendation as the first one on September 25. The counsel for both sides examined several witnesses during the first part of the public personnel hearing including Director of Testing Fran Groover, Assistant Superintendent David Owen, Valley High Counselor Tolandra Harris, Brock-Johnson and two LaFayette High parents.

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