Looney’s Contract To Be Reviewed at Next WCS Meeting

The Williamson County School Board will be reviewing Superintendent Looney’s contract for renewal at their regular July meeting.

Looney is currently under contract until January of 2017, according to the WCS website. The current contract was extended by the school board in January of 2013, and on InFocus 2013, Issue 12, it says this was “the longest possible contract allowed by law.” The legal limit for a superintendent contract is four years. According to board chairman PJ Mezera there will be a motion at July’s meeting to extend Looney’s contract again.

“Officially on the agenda for July we are going to be discussing changing the evaluation timeframe on [Looney’s] contract and moving it to June,” said school board chairman PJ Mezera. “And there will be a motion to extend his contract to the limit of four years, ending in July of 2019.”

Susan Curlee, school board member representing the 12th district, has said that she will push for Looney’s termination during the evaluation process. Curlee has voiced allegations that Looney tried to sway school board elections with the help of a parent organization, Williamson Strong.  Mezera said he had not heard of anyone else on the board that would support a motion to terminate Looney.

“His contract is written that he can be terminated for cause,” Mezera said, which would require the board and Looney to stand before a court.

“Technically, if the board decided to terminate him without cause then they are obligated to buy out the remainder of his contract,” Mezera said. He estimated that buying Looney out of his contract would cost around $500,000.

The next regular meeting of the Williamson County Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, July 20 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Administrative Complex.

This post was updated on Saturday, June 27 to include clarifications about Looney’s contract length. 

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