The Williamson County Board of Education met in special session on February 26, 2018 to discuss Dr. Looney’s involvement regarding the recent Franklin High School event.
Related Reading: New Details on Looney Assault Charges
Board members unanimously adopted the statement below as read by Board Chairman Gary Anderson as of Monday, February 26, 2018:
As many of you know, Dr. Looney, WCS’ Superintendent of Schools, was served last Wednesday evening with a warrant alleging misdemeanor assault, and the Williamson County Board of Education has been told that litigation has also been threatened against it related to this allegation.
The Board works to ensure the safety and well-being of all its students. Every decision it makes has this in mind. As part of this, the Board takes all allegations against its employees, including its Superintendent, seriously. The Board recognizes that it is not a final decision-maker with respect to any criminal charge, but it does have responsibility as the employer of the Superintendent to make decisions related to his employment, especially when an allegation of wrongdoing is made.
Each of us has received requests from some members of the public asking for Dr. Looney to be terminated or suspended from his employment, asking what Dr. Looney’s contract says about issues like this, how WCS’ HR Department would handle such an allegation against any other employee, what our policy is on this, etc.
When any WCS employee other than the Superintendent is the subject of any employment-related allegation, WCS’ Human Resources Department immediately looks for whatever information is available related to the allegation and makes a recommendation to the Superintendent on whether to suspend the employee pending investigation based on the available facts and two main questions:
(1) If the employee stays in their job during an investigation, will the employee’s presence risk continued inappropriate action if the allegation is true?, and
(2) Might the employee’s continued presence at work interfere with an investigation? We believe that we as a Board should as much as we reasonably can follow the principles our Human Resources Department follows. In addition, I have consulted with the Deputy Executive Director and Legal Counsel of the Tennessee School Boards Association who shared that there is no statewide procedure regarding a superintendent in this type of situation.
Dr. Looney’s contract includes an employment termination process with or without cause but doesn’t address any process related to suspension. If we believed Dr. Looney acted inappropriately based on the facts available to us, we could immediately start the termination process. In addition to termination with or without cause, we could ask Dr. Looney to take a leave of absence pending this charge. This request would be outside the terms of his contract.
All Board members have by the time of this meeting reviewed WCS’ security video regarding the alleged incident. This video contains some FERPA-protected personally identifiable student information, so we cannot simply release everything we have to the public. Also, in the interest of student privacy, we cannot at this time speak to all details of the alleged incident and may never be able to speak to all those details. We understand that this may be frustrating, but please understand that we must respect these rights for all students, all the time.
Based on the information we have been provided, it appears that Dr. Looney did not act inappropriately and was within the discretion of an administrator in an effort to defuse a difficult situation, in the interest of student safety, and we believe that his continuing in his work will not interfere with any investigation. Based on all the information available to the Board at this time and in honoring our HR Department’s process, we cannot at this time justify asking Dr. Looney to take a leave of absence pending this criminal charge. We believe that his continued presence as Superintendent at this time is in the best interest of WCS students. We fully recognize that the public has not had access to all the information available to the Board and might come to a different conclusion based on what they have heard, but we must base our decisions on the information available to us at the time decisions are made. Based on the information available to us, we continue to place our confidence in Dr. Looney’s leadership of our School District. We look forward to the legal process continuing.
The next regular meeting of the Williamson County Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, March 19, 2018, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Administrative Complex.
Board packet information can be found on the school district’s website www.wcs.edu. Select About WCS; select Board Meeting Schedule; and select the meeting date. Supporting documents are linked from the agenda.
Pictured above: Williamson County School Board Members. Top row left to right: Angela Durham (First District), Dan Cash (Second District), Eliot Mitchell (Third District), Anne McGraw (Fourth District); middle row: Gary Anderson (Chairman & Fifth District), Jay Galbreath (Sixth District), Sheila Cleveland (Seventh District), Candy Emerson (Eighth District); bottom row: Rick Wimberly (Ninth District), Eric Welch (Tenth District), KC Haugh (Eleventh District), Nancy Garrett (Vice Chair & Twelfth District)
Me. Many of us Chose Williamson county because of the school system. Many of us are now disgusted on how the board has acted in defending Loony. I do not have the respect and faith in the School Board any longer. If there are facts we do not know, let us know.
I think that it does no one any good to jump to conclusions….as a parent of a former WCS student, I respect that the board is trying to contain this episode, and I have confidence that the truth will come out. Schools need to be a place where students respect the teacher and authorities—it is the second place where respect is taught (first being the home). I think that the schools are out of control, and I feel for the teachers, etc that have to deal with students/parents that feel that they can “act out” instead of respect the school system.