SEQUIM — The Sequim School Board has unanimously approved the resignation of former Superintendent Robert Clark.
Clark resigned Thursday after the school board scheduled a special meeting Friday to discuss a separation agreement. The board approved the resignation on Friday.
The resignation was said to be over Clark’s style of management and decision making. A year ago, when Clark’s contract was extended through the 2020-21 school year, the board praised his work.
Agreement reached
Board members agreed the district will pay Clark the base salary for the remainder of his existing contract, which is through the 2020-21 school year, with medical benefits extended through the end of January. He also may cash out up to 30 days of unused vacation days as well as all unused sick leave days.
On Jan 21, 2020, board directors voted to extend his contract another school year (2020-2021) for a $155,000 base salary.
The agreement also states Clark’s separation from the district is permanent and that he agrees he will not apply for future employment with the district.
His final day of “active employment” was Wednesday, the agreement said.
“I’d like to thank Superintendent Clark for his service up to this point and wish him the best in the future,” said Brandino Gibson, board president, at Friday’s meeting.
Jane Pryne, acting superintendent, will assume interim superintendent duties through June 30, district officials announced Thursday. Pryne is a former superintendent of the Port Angeles School District who applied for the job that Clark got in 2019.
Clark had been placed on paid leave by the district Oct. 22 pending the outcome of investigation of a complaint.
A day later, following what school officials say was a separate complaint, Sequim High School principal Shawn Langston was placed on leave. Langston was reinstated in late December after agreeing to work with a mentor to “rebuild trust,” according to a district press release.
District officials declined to say why Langston and Clark were placed on paid leave until investigations were completed.
In response to a public records request from the Sequim Gazette, the school district Nov. 12 said via email it is withholding all records regarding both investigations, citing RCW 42.56.230 and indicating the records can be withheld because the documents contain “identity of employee subject to an unsustained internal investigation of misconduct, release of which violate the employee’s right to privacy due to the highly offensive nature of the allegations.”
Both complaint investigations were handled internally through the district’s human resources department as well as risk management staff, Pryne said.
On Dec. 22, the school board apparently voted to follow legal council recommendations to resolve the situation regarding the complaint against Clark.
In a move that board President Brandino Gibson described as a somewhat bizarre conclusion to a meeting, board members came out of a closed executive session and unanimously voted to approve an unspecified action that was discussed in the executive session.
Board members did not discuss or elaborate on what they approved.
Only in a later interview did Gibson define what the vote was about.
“Basically it was to allow legal counsel, giving them authorization to move forward,” Gibson said then.
On Friday, Gibson said Pryne is in a good position to lead the district for the remainder of the school year as the district looks to handle weighty issues such as re-opening plans and two key levy proposals.
“She’s done a wonderful job; we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from community and staff over the work she’s done,” Gibson said. “She’s got local experience as well, worked on levies in the past.
“The board has full faith in her leadership moving forward.”
