GUY — Guy-Perkins Superintendent Brian Cossey, whose contract was recommended for termination, said Wednesday that he is undecided whether he will appeal the decision.
“My family and I have been praying a lot and talking through everything,” he wrote in a text message. “We are still undecided on whether to appeal the decision. We are overwhelmed and overjoyed at the positive calls, texts and emails from all of our friends and supporters.”
Cossey, who was hired unanimously in 2013 as superintendent, said he was suspended June 2.
On June 9, the board took two votes — one to suspend Cossey, this time with pay, and one to recommend that his contract be terminated, both of which passed unanimously.
“To me, that says you’re fired,” Cossey said June 10. “Ninety percent of the people at the board meeting assume I’m terminated — more like 95 percent.”
Cossey has 30 days to appeal the action, and the hearing can be closed or open, according to state law.
Board President Chris Acre won’t comment on the reason Cossey was recommended for termination.
On June 10, Cossey said he had not received “any verbal or written communication with the school district.” He also said he had “no idea” why the board took the action it did. He also questioned why the board voted to suspend him with pay, “which is exactly what they did a week prior.”
During the June 2 meeting, Cossey said, the board called him into executive session and said, “You’re suspended.” That’s it — two words.”
According to the board minutes from June 2, the board called Cossey into an executive session at 8:15 p.m., and he left the building at 8:18 p.m.
The motion from board member James Rooney was to suspend Cossey “immediately until further notice.” It did not say with pay, according to the minutes.
Another school board meeting was scheduled after press time Thursday, but board President Chris Acre said the board wouldn’t take further action on Cossey’s contract because he has 30 days to appeal the board’s decision.
When Acre was asked if he had received feedback from the community about the board’s actions regarding Cossey, Acre said, “No ma’am.”
Cossey said about 100 people showed up in support of him at the June 9 meeting. George Webber, a parent in the school district, has started a petition to ask the state Board of Education to dissolve the school board because of what he says is a history of “rogue” decisions.
Cossey said he doesn’t know why the board wants to fire him. He said his evaluations “haven’t been bad, per se.” He did not elaborate.
Robert Stewart of Damascus, a retired Quitman superintendent, was hired at the June 2 meeting pending approval from “fiscal services.”
The Arkansas Department of Education placed the 370-student Guy-Perkins School District on fiscal distress in June 2015.
Cindy Smith, fiscal and support-services coordinator, said the department has to approve contracts because of the district’s fiscal-distress designation.
“We have to make sure [the contract] is within the lines of a district that size,” she said.
She emphasized that the state Department of Education had nothing to do with hiring or firing in the district.
“It is just the fiscal part that they are under our watch right now. The board is still in control of making all the decisions for that district.”
Smith said a contract was approved for Stewart only through the end of June. Stewart said his contract, from June 13 through June 30, is for $5,429.55.
He said his annual salary will be $93,078, starting July 1, pending approval. That is also Cossey’s annual salary.
Cossey said the district’s financial situation is improving.
“We were set to be up about a quarter million dollars” at the end of June, he said.
Smith said the financial situation has improved. “They have been improving through the year. They have been holding that good steady balance we’ve asked them to. It’s usually July before we know that final number, at best.”
Stewart said he knows why Cossey’s contract has been recommended for termination, but “I’m not at liberty to say,” he said. Stewart said that when the board first contacted him, he was not aware why Cossey was suspended. “I don’t know the full extent of everything, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable” talking about Cossey’s situation, he said.
According to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, records related to the suspension or termination of a public employee are subject to disclosure if the test for releasing such records is met. There must be a “final administrative resolution of the suspension or termination; the records must have formed a basis for the decision, and there must be a compelling public interest in disclosure.”
Stewart said Wednesday that his goal is to ascertain the financial situation of the district. He said Wednesday that he was reading the fiscal-distress plan “as we speak.”
“It’s just like when I was at Quitman; you just have to be very cautious — follow the plan and watch your P’s and Q’s, It’s always kind of stressful; you certainly want to do a good job. People in this community have always amazed me that they’re always willing to pass a millage,” he said.
Patrons in the school district approved a 2.5-mill property-tax increase in the September school election.
“The people of Guy, they’re really strong supporters of their school, so that’s just a great thing to have in a community,” Stewart said.
This is not the first controversy the school district has had with its administration.
Cossey was the district’s K-12 principal for four years before being named interim superintendent in January 2013 when former Superintendent David Westenhover resigned, effective at the end of the school year, and was placed on paid administrative leave.
Westenhover was arrested and charged in Faulkner County Circuit Court with two felonies, including theft by receiving for allegedly having a stolen weapon on campus, as well as a misdemeanor charge. The online database Arkansas CourtConnect shows those charges were dropped. Westenhover’s son, Joshua, was charged with theft by receiving, a felony, and pleaded guilty, according to CourtConnect. He was sentenced to probation, fined $500 and ordered to pay court costs.
At the time Cossey was hired, the board bypassed 20 other applicants without interviewing them and voted unanimously to hire him. Acre said the board decided Cossey was the best candidate.
“We know something about him,” Acre said in the March 7, 2013, River Valley & Ozark Edition. “He’s been our interim superintendent, and we like the job he’s doing. He’s enthusiastic, a hard worker.”
Prior to coming to the Guy-Perkins School District, Cossey served as assistant principal at Greenbrier Middle School, basketball and softball coach in the Atkins School District, basketball and baseball coach in the Marshall School District and principal at England High School.
Stewart said it is unlikely he would apply for the Guy-Perkins superintendent’s position if Cossey is fired.
“I’m going to tell you, with my situation with my daughters, it would be hard for me to do that,” Stewart said. He has five daughters and several grandchildren, with one daughter living in Ireland, one in Texas, one in Louisiana and two in Arkansas.
Stewart has twice taken educational positions in Alaska. Before being hired in 2004 as Quitman superintendent, he was athletic/activities director, as well as special education and human-resources director in the Lower Yukon School District. He also is a former coach at Central Baptist College in Conway and worked at Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative in Plumerville. After he retired as Quitman superintendent in 2007, Stewart went back to the Lower Yukon School District, where he was human-resource director and supervised athletics. He also served as acting superintendent for the summer months.
He retired and has been in Damascus for more than two years, he said.
Acre said the district is running smoothly with Stewart at the helm.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.