LITTLE ROCK — The superintendent of a Macon, Ga., school district told his school board in an e-mail Friday that he has decided against offering Pine Bluff Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones a contract.
Davis-Jones was among 15 people who applied for the job of campus police chief in the Bibb County School District in Macon. She became a finalist. A panel of school district personnel and public safety supervisors and officers interviewed them.
The school district’s superintendent, Romain Dallemand, then recommended hiring Davis-Jones. The School Board approved the superintendent’s recommendation July 19. Three board members voted against the recommendation, a Bibb County official said.
Three days later, the school district’s website posted a notice to school district parents introducing Davis-Jones, among others, as “new administrators for the 2012-2013 school year.”
Davis-Jones said in a statement released by the Pine Bluff Police Department on July 28 that she had not received a formal job offer.
The following week, the district changed its website posting to state that some administrators on the approved list hadn’t gotten job offers. The district acknowledged that Davis-Jones hadn’t gotten a job offer but declined to say whether she would or why she hadn’t gotten one after it had gone through all the formal steps.
On Thursday, Davis-Jones said she planned to stay as Pine Bluff police chief. She added that she would not rule out leaving if she got a good offer. And she said she would not withdraw her candidacy for the Macon position because she felt that she couldn’t withdraw from a job that she never got an offer from.
On Friday, the Macon schools superintendent sent his board members an e-mail at 3:52 p.m. in which he wrote: “As a result of issues that have surfaced over the past week, I have decided not to offer Mrs. Brenda Davis-Jones a contract as Chief of Police. I will keep you informed of any future developments.”
Dallemand did not elaborate. He did not return a telephone message or e-mail seeking comment.
Earlier Friday, Donald Porter, the school district’s director of public relations, said in an e-mail that “she is no longer a candidate for campus police chief here in Bibb County. Because this is a personnel matter, we will not be providing further comment regarding this application process.”
Porter declined to reply to a telephone message and an email message seeking further comment.
Davis-Jones, who did not return a message left at her office Friday, came to Pine Bluff as police chief in 2010.
She worked in law enforcement in Georgia for about 24 years. From 1986-2005, she worked in the Macon Police Department, reaching the rank of major.
Davis-Jones, at times, has had a rocky term as police chief. She survived a 4-4 no confidence vote by the Pine Bluff City Council in March.
Two council members had supported a no-confidence resolution against Davis-Jones, saying that the city had lost “experienced and qualified officers” and that the chief “practices favoritism,” among other concerns.
No one produced specific information about any loss of personnel or cases of favoritism at that City Council meeting.
Two weeks earlier, the South Central chapter of the Arkansas Police Benevolent Association circulated a letter to Pine Bluff aldermen and Mayor Carl Redus, saying its members had no confidence in Davis-Jones’ ability to lead the department. The letter cited a lack of “consistency” with disciplinary cases.
The chapter, at the same time, urged city officials to reinstate a Civil Service Commission to deal with disciplinary issues of Pine Bluff’s uniformed employees.
The mayor has strongly supported Davis-Jones as chief.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 08/04/2012