CONWAY - The former superintendent of Conway Public Schools is volunteering as assistant executive director of an educators' association rather than requesting a salary there so he can receive the full $164,000 under his resignation agreement with the financially struggling school district.
James Simmons said the Little Rock-based Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators is paying him only expenses and that he never requested pay. He said he began working for the private, nonprofit organization during the summer.
"It's not illegal, and it's not unethical," Simmons said. "I specifically stated upfront to [the association] that I couldn't draw any pay."
The Conway School Board in February declined to renew Simmons' contract after its scheduled expiration in June 2008. Then in June of this year, Simmons resigned under an agreement that he would still get $164,000, which includessalary and benefits under the final year of his contract.
Simmons is not forbidden from taking another job under the agreement, Dr. Terry Fiddler, School Board president, confirmed Wednesday. But any salary Simmons might make from another job during that time would be deducted from the $164,000.
Simmons is one of two assistant executive directors at the association. The other one has a salary in the $50,000 range, according to Tom Kimbrell, the executive director.
Kimbrell said a person who had previously held the job for which Simmons now volunteers was paid "somewhere in the mid-50s."
Simmons said he had no idea what the job would have paid. "I never asked," he said.
"I had a contract. So, [the Conway district] had to honor my contract," he said.
Longtime Conway teacher Vivian Hogue noted Simmons is "not obligated" to help the district by seeking payment from the association job so that the Conway district would, as a result, have to pay him less.
But, she added, given the district's financial situation, "It would be nice ... but I don't think anyone can say he's obligated to do that. It would just be the quote-unquote nice thing to do."
Fiddler declined to comment on whether he had a problem with Simmons not seeking a salary from the association, beyond expenses. "Anything that we could do to help our [financial] situation, we'd be better off," he said.
Contacted Wednesday, Jeff Standridge, a parent of two children in Conway schools and a former board candidate, said, "I would certainly hope that the administrators' association is not benefiting at the expense of the Conway School District. I would certainly assume that they're not. But if they had someone in that position previously prior to James Simmons receiving pay for that position and they're now choosing to allow the Conway School District to pay for that position, I would have a problem with it." Standridge said there may be some "mitigating details," such as perhaps Simmons "is just trying to close the gap on a resource constraint" at the association on a temporary basis. "I hope they haven'trelaxed on their search for a permanent replacement," he added.
Kimbrell said he did not view the association as benefiting at Conway's expense, but from its volunteers. "Isn't this what we should be teaching" children about volunteering? he asked.
Kimbrell said he did not offer Simmons a salary. "He said he couldn't [take pay], and I never offered to hire him."
Asked if he would have been willing to pay Simmons, Kimbrell said, "I don't know. ... I had interviewed some people to fill the position," but none had worked out.
Conway's new superintendent, Greg Murry, recently said the district must cut $4 million from this fiscal year's operating-fund budget of about $70.1 million by next year. He warned of cutbacks in staff through attrition and possibly through layoffs and elimination of some programs.
Simmons said his volunteer work involves organizing conferences and professional development for administrators.
"He's doing things that the person who was in that position would have done if I could have found somebody," Kimbrell said.
Simmons said many people who have such agreements "go home and sit at the house. I chose not to do that. I thought I would be able to try to help do some things, help some other folks during this time when I couldn't do anything else about it."
Kimbrell said Simmons' hours are flexible but he's there daily.
Simmons said he does not have a job lined up for next year. Asked if the association would hire him for the job he now does, he said, "That's up to them. ... I haven't even asked that question."
The board has never publicly stated a specific reason for not extending Simmons' contract.
Arkansas, Pages 9, 16 on 10/25/2007