‘My work speaks for itself.’ Phenix City superintendent reacts to decision about her job

It was standing-room-only Monday evening at a Phenix City Board of Education called meeting, where a crowd packed the Success Academy to find out whether Superintendent Janet Sherrod would be fired one year after she was hired .

The seven-member board met in closed session for approximately an hour to discuss what was described as “pending or threatened litigation.” Then, following a contentious discussion in open session about two undisclosed personnel items (identified by only numbers), board member Jonathan Taylor made an announcement when the agenda item titled “superintendent’s contract” came up.

“I asked this to be put on the agenda,” Taylor said. “And I’m requesting that, after further thought and consideration, this item be removed. We’re going to begin to strategize and set goals for Dr. Sherrod at our soon-to-be-scheduled retreat. The future is bright.”

The crowd applauded that news.

After the meeting, Taylor declined to specify to the Ledger-Enquirer any details about the dispute, citing what he said was advice from the board’s attorney, Bob Meadows.

The Ledger-Enquirer asked Sherrod for her reaction to the support as she was surrounded by well-wishers.

“My work speaks for itself,” she said.

Phenix City-Russell County NAACP chapter president Chelsea Arrington Brown told the Ledger-Enquirer she has “heard nothing but good things” about Sherrod.

“She’s led the educators very well,” Brown said. “She’s very engaged. She has a very great leadership style as it pertains to leading the school system and where it needs to go for our kids in Phenix City.”

Phenix City school board member refutes Courier report

Also during the meeting, board member Elliott Patrick refuted the Courier Eco Latino report citing anonymous sources saying this controversy “ might be retaliation ” against Sherrod for her alleged refusal to hire a board member’s wife as assistant superintendent.

Patrick acknowledged his wife, former PCBOE president and former Russell County Middle School principal Mesha Ramsey Patrick , applied for the assistant superintendent position, but that was before Sherrod was hired. When the assistant superintendent search was reopened after Sherrod was hired, Patrick said, his wife didn’t reapply.

“If any of you know my wife,” Patrick told the crowd, “she doesn’t need any help or assistance to secure a job. . . . Retaliation is not in my DNA. . . . We are going to move forward with Dr. Sherrod as superintendent.”

Board member Brady Baird told the Ledger-Enquirer after the meeting, “Ultimately, the board needed an opportunity to be together and talk about the trajectory of the school system, and being together is what enabled us to get on the same page. Community rumors like this make this out to be something that it wasn’t.”

Asked what issue the board needed to get on the same page about, Baird said, “There wasn’t any particular thing that I can divulge, but I would say that we needed the opportunity to talk in executive session about specific legal matters.”

Background about Phenix City superintendent controversy

In an email late Friday afternoon from board secretary Rachel Ham, the announcement of the called meeting says, “The board will consider routine personnel recommendations, an Executive Session to discuss pending or threatened litigation, and a discussion of the Superintendent’s contract.”

Sherrod’s three-year contract , with an annual salary of $185,000, runs through June 2026.

In a post Thursday night on its Facebook page, the Phenix City-Russell County chapter of the NAACP asserts that the meeting was called “for the removal” of Sherrod. The post declares a “CALL TO ACTION!!” and asks for residents to “join us … to show our solidarity and support” for the superintendent.

No official before or after the meeting would tell the Ledger-Enquirer what the problem between the superintendent and the board has been about, but a clue comes from the board’s evaluation of Sherrod, attached to the June 13 meeting’s agenda .

On a scale of 1-4, the board’s seven members rated the superintendent in 10 categories. Their average rating is a 2 in all the categories, assessing Sherrod on:

• Being the CEO of the school board
• Educational leadership of the school system
• Personnel management
• Community relations
• Management of pupil and personnel services
• Communication, interpersonal relations and partnerships
• Professional development and leadership
• Technology management
• Facility management
• Financial management.

How Janet Sherrod became Phenix City Schools superintendent

Randy Wilkes ended his eight-year tenure as PCS superintendent in June 2022, when he resigned to become the first superintendent of a new school district in Orange Beach.

After a yearlong search, the board voted 4-3 in May 2023 to hire Sherrod from Tuscaloosa City Schools , where she was executive director of learning support.

During that meeting, the board emerged from a 15-minute closed session and, without public discussion, appointed Sherrod in a split vote. Katrina Collier-Long made the motion, seconded by Elliott Patrick. Board chair Yolaunda Daniel and Florence Bellamy also voted yes. Brady Baird, KeAnthony Brooks and Jonathan Taylor voted no.