Johnson County school board gives leader $425K exit deal after critics push to oust her
Gardner Edgerton school board candidates who won campaigning on ousting the district’s superintendent will take office Monday. But before they could be sworn in and fulfill that promise, the sitting board approved a hefty $425,000 severance package for her.
Superintendent Pam Stranathan resigned effective Jan. 9, a day before the new board takes office. Her critics accuse outgoing board members of handing her a “golden parachute” and financially strapping this district in southwest Johnson County. They say it was a questionable move after the same board voted in August to extend her contract into 2023.
“I do think the superintendent decided to leave because she knew accountability was coming,” said newly elected board member Greg Chapman, one of four candidates who won in November and will shift the school board to be majority conservative. “And I think another part of it was fear of being terminated. Because it was clear that we didn’t believe leadership was doing what they needed to do for our students and staff.”
Chapman and other newly elected members had campaigned against Stranathan’s stance on continuing remote learning last year and requiring masks, but they say they had several other concerns about her leadership as well.
Others, though, have defended Stranathan, pointing to several district accomplishments since she took the helm in 2014, as well as a recent statewide award recognizing her “leadership and innovation.” They argue that she only became a target due to disagreements over COVID-19 protocols.
“She’s a strong woman. And maybe that offends some people,” said former board member Shawn Carlisle, who resigned earlier this school year. “She did her job. I think she did it well.”
Some board members said they had no choice but to reach a favorable separation agreement with the superintendent due to fears over a potential wrongful termination lawsuit. It wouldn’t be the first time. Gardner Edgerton paid out $1.8 million to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by three administrators after they were fired in 2014.
One week after November’s election, board member Lana Sutton, who won another term, took it upon herself to search for an interim superintendent before there was any known discussion that Stranathan was considering a resignation — a decision that many said put the district at risk legally.
On Nov. 11, Sutton sent an email from her personal account, asking the executive director of United School Administrators of Kansas for the contact information of several retired superintendents, regarding their interest in an interim position.
Executive Director G.A. Buie told The Star that he was immediately concerned, as the district did not have a job opening. He forwarded the email to the school board president and vice president.
“I recognize what she is attempting (planning) to do when new board members are seated in January. As a taxpayer in the Gardner School District, it’s disappointing and a sad time for the students and staff,” Buie wrote in the email, obtained by The Star. “It is always disruptive to a school district when a leader is removed during the school year, and almost always affects the pool of potential candidates when the position is opened officially.”
Amid nationwide staffing shortages, Buie said his organization counts about 45 superintendent openings in Kansas right now, the highest he’s seen. He estimates that could rise to as many as 65 by the end of the school year.
“We always try to keep our superintendents until the end of the year, even in difficult situations,” he said in an interview. “Any disruption in leadership has a negative impact on a school district. I hated to see that in my own school district. It puts everybody in limbo, and it’s not good for an education system.”
The Gardner Edgerton district has yet to put out an announcement regarding Stranathan’s departure or the search for an interim superintendent. Some board members told The Star they plan to discuss the interim position at Monday’s meeting.
Stranathan declined to comment on her reasons for resigning.
The Star obtained her separation agreement through an open records request.
In a statement, she said: “I will be forever grateful to have been a part of the Gardner Edgerton family. I will always be thankful to the school board, students, families and USD 231 community-at-large for providing me with the extraordinary opportunity to serve as superintendent. Gardner Edgerton is without question the most memorable and most rewarding of all of my professional experiences.”
‘The death knell’
The newly elected board members won the nonpartisan races on a politically conservative message, against mask mandates and for parental choice on the pandemic and curriculum. They swept the election after a turbulent year where at one heated board meeting, two frustrated members walked out amid mask protests and then resigned.
All four of the winners are keeping their promise to fight mask mandates, recently signing a letter alongside more than 20 other officials and state legislators asking the Johnson County Board of Commissioners to rescind its health order requiring masks in schools that serve students up to sixth grade. (The board voted Thursday to continue the health order for at least six more weeks.)
Newly elected board member Thomas Reddin said that “everybody thinks the whole election was about masks, but it wasn’t.”
Reddin and Chapman both said there are deeper issues in the district related to transparency, communication and decision-making. And they rebutted the idea that the election was won on partisan politics alone, saying that people across the political spectrum shared some of their same views.
“I don’t think anybody can have an effective leadership or organization when the free exchange of ideas is being quashed and discouraged,” Chapman said.
They also point to declining test scores, an exodus of some district staff and what they call a general dislike of Stranathan’s leadership style.
“Don’t pay off a superintendent because she’s unwilling to address the challenges of the future,” Kansas Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said during the school board meeting last month, before members went into closed session to discuss the separation agreement.
Stacey Coleman, who lost her run for the school board to Chapman, alleged that others, both Democrats and Republicans, found issue with Stranathan.
“But when she did the very basic, very minimum things to protect students and faculty and the district, frankly with enforcing the mask mandate, that was pretty much the death knell for her from the conservative side of the party,” Coleman said.
But others share a drastically different view of the superintendent, saying that she has been a successful leader, and that the push to fire her was new.
“The only people I’ve heard publicly admonishing Pam’s credibility and character are that current group, some of which got elected in,” said former board member Carlisle. “I was very anti-Pam when I got elected in, but then I was very supportive of her when I left. I think she did everything she said she was going to do, and she did it well.”
One month before she resigned, Stranathan was awarded for being a distinguished administrator by Pittsburg State University.
“Superintendent Stranathan was selected for this award due to her leadership and innovation, including career and technical education growth, improving fiscal accountability, and addressing learning loss,” the announcement states. “The award also stems from the district’s efforts to address students’ growing mental health needs and implement a district-wide one-to-one program, placing a Chromebook in every student’s hands.”
Some touted the creation of the Gardner Edgerton High School Advanced Technical Center, teaching students automotive repair, welding and other trades, as one of Stranathan’s greatest accomplishments during her tenure.
“That’s been very positive for a huge portion of our population. And she oversaw that, helped drive that to get it done and provided the resources to make it work,” said outgoing board member Brandon Parks, who lost his seat to newcomer Jeff Miller.
“I don’t think there were a lot of people upset at that point. It all seems to stem from decisions regarding the handling of COVID,” he said. “When you’re the top dog, you get a lot of credit and you also take a lot of blame. People are angry and upset at the world, and she’s an easy outlet for anger.”
Stranathan has had a long career in education, working as a teacher, academic coach and principal. She relocated to Gardner in 2008 to take on the role of assistant principal at Gardner Edgerton High School. In 2010, she became director of educational services for secondary education.
She was then appointed interim superintendent in 2014, and officially took over the job the following year.
Gardner Edgerton faced controversy at that point, too.
The district paid a $1.8 million settlement in exchange for former superintendent Bill Gilhaus and two other top administrators dropping a wrongful termination lawsuit they filed after their 2014 firings.
‘Big buyout’
Stranathan’s contract was set to expire this coming summer. But late last August, the school board unanimously agreed to extend it through June 2023, with a $203,000 base salary.
It’s a move that other districts had made during the pandemic to retain their superintendents amid staff shortages.
“It’s pretty standard practice that about six months out from a contract, you want to extend. Because otherwise the superintendent is going to start looking,” Parks said. “If we don’t extend the contract, she’s gone. Because she’s looking at the anger in the community and the people running for reelection, and her job doesn’t look safe. And financially that doesn’t make sense. We’re stuck trying to find a superintendent at a time where it’s darn near impossible.”
But then the election happened. And the email Sutton sent, unilaterally shopping for an interim superintendent, were shared among the board. Sutton, many pointed out, voted in favor of the August contract extension along with the rest of the board. Founding member of the Gardner Edgerton Republican Party, Sutton is married to Kansas Rep. Bill Sutton.
“Now we’re in an awkward position,” Parks said. “You have a school board member operating on behalf of the board, looking to replace the current superintendent. We were in a bind. It looked like if our superintendent wanted to file a lawsuit, we were going to be in trouble. The superintendent came asking for a buyout, and we were in a position where it felt like the safest thing for the long-term viability of our school district. And Lana Sutton voted along with us.”
The separation agreement, unanimously approved last month, states that Stranathan would receive all compensation and benefits due to her through the end of her contract. In total, the base cost is $425,000.
Half of the payment, $212,500, was due last month, with the other half due in January. And the agreement includes nearly $35,000 in health insurance coverage for the 18-month period.
The separation agreement also states that Stranathan is in good standing, and it prohibits her from suing the district over her employment.
“There was no nefarious plot to give a golden parachute,” Parks said. “I didn’t know the superintendent was seeking a buyout until that meeting. But you have all of these angry community members who came to speak at that board meeting and who knew about it already. It reeks of foul play, by people on the right, sadly. I hate to make it sound political. But I’ve seen the ugly side of this, the school board turning so political.”
But some of the newly elected members argue that the timing, approving a severance package months after extending the contract, was suspicious and resulted in a greater cost to taxpayers.
“Had there not have been a contract extension, the plan was to come in, let her ride out her remaining six months, and it wouldn’t cost the district,” Reddin said. “Instead they created this big mess with this big buyout.”
Chapman also said he would not have pushed to immediately terminate the superintendent, despite a campaign alleging a failure in leadership.
“We made it clear we don’t have faith in her leadership. And the fact that they’re trying to use oncoming board members as their excuse for taking almost $500,000 from our citizens, from our students and staff — and saying if you don’t then she’ll sue the district for a lot more — is just ridiculous,” Chapman said. “We would never do anything to purposefully injure the district or anything like that. I wasn’t going to terminate. I was going to find other ways to fix the leadership.”
“They used fear, like they have been all year, to push through this outrageous settlement plan,” he said.
Others, in turn, accuse the incoming board members of stoking fear and anger themselves.
“Coming in and saying that you’re going to get rid of the superintendent, that creates fear among staff. Anything else you do is going to be looked at with concern and worry about what does this mean for me? What will I do accidentally that’ll lead me to being next?” Parks said. “By creating an environment of fear, that’ll lead to a lot of bad outcomes for our students and staff long term. I pray that I am wrong.”
‘Mending relationships’
On Monday, the new members will be sworn in, already tasked with one of the most significant decisions a school board is required to make: selecting the district’s next leader.
Chapman, who had served on the board before, said he is happy to get to work, placing a main priority on improving transparency in the district, such as expanding the public comment period during meetings.
“As far as the superintendent goes, I’m excited to look for one who is up for the task and willing to help us with our growth. Because we do have some schools at capacity, and the city itself is growing,” Chapman said. “With everybody’s skills, regardless of whether they are D or R, I think we’re going to make a pretty good team if we can lay aside some of the differences from this election.”
Whether those entrenched in local politics are confident the incoming board can work together depends on whom you ask. Some said they are concerned about the new board coming on as the omicron variant causes new COVID-19 cases to reach record highs and debates over mask mandates continue. And some emphasized that the job of a school board member involves much more than pandemic mitigation decisions.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was concerned,” Parks said. “Having taught here, having a lot of friends and my own kids in the district, I want to see it succeed. I hope and pray that my fears are unfounded and the new board does an admirable job, and they help continue this district on the right path.”
Both Chapman and Reddin said that they would like to see administration and elected officials be more involved in schools, visiting buildings and making themselves more available to the community.
“A good leader is someone who listens, who has an open door policy and makes themselves available to everybody,” Reddin said. “Our teachers are the ones in the classroom. They have great ideas but they’re not heard. We need somebody to lead from the front, step in and help wherever it’s needed.”
But the biggest task ahead, he said, is “mending relationships.”
“The community is divided. We need to mend those bridges that have been burned with the citizens and also with the city. We’ll get the right superintendent in place and get things going, get trust back with teachers, build morale. Once that morale is up, classrooms will be more at ease, test scores will start going up and everything will fall in place with the right leadership.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
