FORT DAVIS — The Fort Davis ISD School Board voted Monday to hire a new interim superintendent but left the former interim superintendent — Graydon Hicks — in limbo on paid administrative leave.
The board named Ralph Traynham, a former Fort Stockton ISD superintendent, to the post for the interim. No action was taken regarding Hicks on paid administrative leave.
Hicks said Wednesday that he is still in the dark about the exact reason for his removal on March 9 and that he did not attend the Monday meeting after hearing from his attorney that the district said he was not welcome. Hicks previously said the placement on paid administrative leave was related to him refusing to follow a board directive that would break the law. At the meeting this week the board also met in executive session with Michelle Hartmann — a deputy superintendent who heads the district’s program that partners with early childhood private schools to enroll their students for additional state funding.
In a March 28 special board meeting, trustees met in a lengthy executive session and returned to take no action, but released a statement saying that Hicks had been removed because of his inability to work with the board in three closed sessions. “ Based on his continuing unwillingness to work in good faith with the board, we placed him on administrative leave,” the statement said in part. The statement also said, “We want to be clear as well that at this time the board has no knowledge of any illegal activities.”
A law firm representing the district then issued an April 9 statement, which included: “The Board has and will continue to try and work with Mr. Hicks, through his legal representatives, but in response to the requests from Mr. Hicks himself to give some answers, the Board provided the public statement at the end of the [March 28] board meeting. Since that time, Mr. Hicks had made allegations that the Board has engaged in illegal activity in both their actions and in asking Mr. Hicks to do illegal acts. The Board already stated that, at this time, the Board is unaware of any illegal activities engaged in by Mr. Hicks. Based on allegations since the meeting, the Board categorically denies that it has engaged in any illegal activities, nor has it made any requests of Mr. Hicks to do so; and as counsel for the District, we are unaware of any illegal activity requested or engaged in.”
Hicks said he still can’t do anything about his situation because he can’t break the confidentiality of executive session discussions, and the board told him he was not allowed to speak about the subject or he would be terminated. Hicks previously said the board, however, violated the law in the March 28 meeting with their statement by releasing information about their closed session discussions with him.
Hicks told The Sentinel that there was some confusion around the role of a consultant hired at the March 28 meeting — J&P Advisory Group — and its principal Jim McClellan, who supposedly communicated publicly that he was the new superintendent. The board approved a contract with the firm at the March 28 meeting but did not offer the public any written or verbal information on what it entails. The contract was not immediately available from Fort Davis ISD, and The Sentinel filed an open records request seeking the documents.
Board President James Weaver did not reply to a request for comment on Traynham’s hiring and Hicks’ leave status. Traynham could not be reached for comment; he is not scheduled to start at the district until next week, according to the FDISD superintendent secretary.