[UPDATED, 12:30 p.m., 2/7/24] Acting Charleston County School District Superintendent Anita Huggins could soon be the district’s full-time leader, but now there’s a spat by the district’s dysfunctional board over the approval process involving her proposed contract.
On Tuesday, trustee Carol Tempel of James Island said in a text that she wanted a full board vote on the contract before it is signed by the board chair, Keith Grybowski of Mount Pleasant. But Grybowski this morning said he thinks he can move forward.
In a text obtained by the Charleston City Paper, Tempel said she was responding to an email from Grybowski in which he said he was going to approve a contract signed by Huggins without board discussion.
“I think I have board approval,” Grybowski told the City Paper today. “Plenty of time has been given to discuss it, and I never received anything. I think we have the right person. I think we’re on track with this person.”
Tempel told the City Paper today that the issue was a matter of doing what’s right, not doing what’s allowed.
“It’s a double standard,” she said. “We can’t operate with double standards. We have expectations based on the previous work we did with [Eric] Gallien’s contract last year. That’s how we expected this to play out, but now it hasn’t.”
Standard protocol would have a board vote before a contract is signed, sources said. But Grybowski explained that policy allows him the sole authority to sign the contract should he desire.
On Tuesday, Tempel questioned that logic.
“How can you justify signing a contract we have not approved as a school board?” she asked. “This appears to me as an authoritarian (some would say fascist) over-reach on your part.
“This was what I thought might have been presented or approved at the meeting (2/5 special-called meeting) and hence I tried to pose questions last evening to tease out this possibility.”
Tempel said it was disingenuous for the chair to sign Huggins’ contract without board discussion.
“You short-circuited the hiring process … no interviews, no resume, no advertisement or panel reviews, etc. … and now you are pulling off this power play.”
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