(Spirit Lake)—On a three-to-two vote, the Spirit Lake school board this (Tues.) afternoon accepted the resignation of High School Principal Jed Sherman, which he says was made under duress.
The board also accepted a recommendation from Superintendent Doug Latham to place Sherman on administrative leave effective at 4:00 p.m. this (Tues.) afternoon with the leave to be effective until June 30th, 2008…when the resignation becomes effective.
School board members Cliff Garvey, Ann Goerss and Beth Will voted in favor of the motion, while Todd Hummel and Scott Wicks voted against.
The action followed comments from scores of people who spoke in favor of Sherman and questioned why the board was taking the action.
Will, the school board’s President, told KUOO news following the meeting that because it’s a personnel-related issue, that she couldn’t formally comment regarding the board’s action. Sherman told us he feels it’s due to a difference in philosophy between him, the school board and some administrators over what areas of the budget should be cut first, saying he believes cutting should be done first on the administrative level. The board must cut more than a million dollars out of the upcoming fiscal year’s budget because the district surpassed its spending authority the last several years.
Today’s (Tues.) action visibly angered many in the crowd. They vowed to take out petitions calling for an election to recall atleast some of the school board members.
Several Spirit Lake police officers and sheriff’s deputies stood by as a precaution as the tension mounted. Fortunately, no incidents took place other than some yelling.
