by Emily West, Franklin Home Page
After his official last day with Williamson County Schools, former Independence Principal Todd Campbell will wait for his day in court after a judge issued a continuance on his case on Tuesday.
Metro-Nashville Police officers arrested Campbell on Oct. 24 for his second driving under the influence charge in the past seven years. The arresting officer reported that he smelled alcohol on Campbell and performed standard field sobriety tests, which included testing horizontal gaze, walking in a straight line and standing on one leg. When asked how much he had had to drink, he stated he’d had three beers and a Grey Goose vodka.
His previous one happened in 2009, where he underwent a year of probation with his license suspended for a duration.
The penalties for a second charge in Tennessee include 45 days to a year in jail, as well as a two-year license suspension. Prior to that in 1998, authorities charged Campbell for driving on a suspended license.
According to his personnel file, Campbell’s last day with the system was June 27. He cited personal reasons for his departure and checked the box on his resignation paperwork that he would like to be considered for employment again in the future. According to the Department of Education Teacher Look-Up, Campbell’s administrative license will not expire until 2020. It was originally issue in 2010. His teaching license has been inactive since 2002.
Campbell started his tenure in the Williamson County School system in 2001 when he became assistant principal at Franklin High School while Dallas Johnson acted as the superintendent of schools. Previously, he taught in Kentucky and in Davidson County. He attended Western Kentucky University and Trevecca Nazarene University.
The system later promoted him to Independence High School at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year. According to his personnel file, his base salary started at $95,000. During his eight years as principal, he received one reprimand in his personnel file regarding a trip to Florida not approved for the football team.
He also didn’t follow the system policies in regard to four evaluations.
“As result of failure to follow these procedures, I had to overturn two recommendations from you to not tenure employees,” Williamson County Schools Chief Academic Officer David Heath wrote in his email to Campbell. Heath stayed on with the school system until 2011.
“And in another two instances, I had to have an additional 30 days to evaluate employees that you claimed were deficient. This was an embarrassment to you, and this could have resulted in grievances.”
During his time at Independence, he also became the Middle Tennessee Principal of the Year in 2015.
Campbell is scheduled to appear in Davidson County court on July 12.
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