KCK interim superintendent resigns after board president’s ‘unreasonable’ requests

The Kansas City, Kansas Schools interim superintendent said Monday that she chose to resign early after the school board president emailed her a series of “unreasonable” requests.

Julia Ford, a former Topeka Schools superintendent, was tapped to lead the district until incoming superintendent Charles Foust begins his tenure. But she abruptly resigned from her position Thursday.

On Friday, the board named Assistant Superintendent Jayson Strickland as acting superintendent until Foust’s expected arrival in early August.

“I have been impressed with Dr. Foust and do believe he can be a great leader for the school district, if the board allows him to lead,” Ford told The Star.

Both board President Valdenia Winn and Ford say that Winn had requested a human resources report about the demographics of certified and classified employees ahead of a July 30 meeting.

But school administrators had planned to submit this information to the board in September, and Ford found the request to be “unreasonable.”

“I explained that all districts in Kansas and the nation were concentrating on hiring during the teacher shortage and we were focused on filling positions,” Ford wrote in an email to The Star. “To accomplish what she requested would require pulling Human Resources personnel away from job fairs and hiring staff for our students to have teachers and staff in place this fall.”

Winn then adjusted her request to include only teachers, both Winn and Ford confirmed to The Star. But Ford still found the task unrealistic.

Ford said she also had concerns that Winn wished to call a closed session about the budget, a meeting Ford said Kansas law required to be open. Ford said she was also asked to complete Foust’s organizational chart, a task Ford said should fall to the new leader.

Ford said she also expressed concerns about the board’s $84,000 contract with a consultant hired to examine human resources in the district. Ford said the consultant’s description of duties in the contract was too vague.

“I know she was unhappy I questioned this expense,” Ford wrote.

Winn told The Star on Friday that Ford had said she was not pleased that Winn had copied the district’s attorney on her email requests for the human resources information.

Winn said requests for information ahead of a board meeting were “normal procedure.”

“After a couple of emails back and forth … she called me and said she wasn’t satisfied with that interaction, and particularly didn’t like me copying the attorney,” Winn said Friday.

She said Ford told her on Wednesday that she planned to resign.

Winn and other board members have expressed their disappointment that Ford left prior to Foust’s arrival.

Last week, Winn told The Star that she is aware of an “undercurrent of negativity” in the district from those who have opposed the board’s decisions, including Foust’s hiring.

Many had appealed to the board to instead choose Strickland, a beloved KCK administrator.

The board’s 5-2 decision to approve Foust, the former chief school performance officer for Union County Public Schools in North Carolina, was viewed by some as controversial.

“We’re taking a holistic approach. … We’re not just randomly striking people, and that’s what the chatter suggests,” Winn said. “I take it as people don’t understand that to solve problems you have to understand the complexity of the organization. That’s all we’re trying to do here.”

A spokeswoman told The Star last week that Foust was still completing his move from North Carolina.

Ford said she found board members to be “individually” sincere about improving the district and hoped they would invest “in training on the board president role, superintendent role and board members’ roles.”

“I hope the district will unite under Dr. Strickland, a hometown jewel, and then Dr. Foust, as both are ready to lead,” Ford said. “Both men are true quality and deserve opportunities to be leaders.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2018 at 4:22 PM.