Nelson County Schools superintendent remains in position following special board meeting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Nelson County Schools' superintendent will remain in his position following a special board meeting Wednesday night, despite potential consideration by the district's board.

The Nelson County Board of Education scheduled the special meeting for Wednesday. One of the three items on the meeting agenda was discussion about the appointment or dismissal of an individual employed by the board.

Days prior to the meeting, board member Tracy Bowling made a Facebook post that said board member Diane Berry told her she has the four votes needed to dismiss Superintendent Wes Bradley.

Dozens of community members and Nelson County educators crowded the Central Office for Wednesday's meeting, many holding signs to to show their support for Bradley.

As the board moved to executive session, members of the audience chanted, "we want Wes," repeatedly.

Wednesday's meeting added to a series of events occurring in Nelson County Schools. Most recently, the board's attorney, Eric Farris, resigned over "ethical concerns."

In his resignation letter obtained Tuesday by WDRB News, Farris said he could no longer represent the board because of a "series of issues" and "ethical concerns."

It's unclear if Farris' resignation was related or connected to the possible removal of Bradley.

In response to Farris' resignation, Wednesday's meeting agenda also included consideration to retain board counsel in the interim and issue a request for proposal for permanent counsel.

The board approved attorney Jake Thompson, of Crawford and Baxter law firm, to serve as its interim board counsel, pending permanent counsel, in a 4-1 vote.

Bowling spoke against the appointment of Thompson and expressed concern about him being involved in prior conversations regarding Bradley's contract.

"Either you guys have had a conversation about Mr. Thompson and you guys have vetted him and looked at his credentials and feel he is very adequate in law and especially school board law," Bowling said. "Unless you guys have already done that and (are) ready to make a decision because a decision has already been made then that is your choice, but here's the thing, this same attorney was part of a discussion Ms. Deaton had in April, and as you may not be aware individual school board members to not have the authority to buy out the superintendent's contract, and that happened in April. And I would have hoped if Mr. Thompson had years of experience as a school board attorney he would have guided Ms. Deaton and said again you don't have that authority as a single board member."

Board member Amanda Deaton declined there being any conflict related to Thompson's potential appointment.

Bowling then pushed that the other board members had already decided to appoint Thompson, prior to the meeting.

"You know the decision is made because look at that agenda, the next discussion is for us to discuss personnel and we only know the person we hire and let go is the superintendent, so if you knew this vote was going to happen on this individual (Thompson) that wouldn't be on there," Bowling said.

Following the meeting, board members Deaton, Berry, David Norman, and Nicole Milburn declined to do an interview.

Bowling spoke to members of the media and described the board's actions as "disheartening."

"It has become an ever engaging fight for these people to be heard," Bowling said. "As you can see these people aren't here because they're being listened to. They’re not here because they feel like their voices are heard. They’re here because we have ignored them and we have told them we know more as school board members than teachers in our buildings.”

The district has dealt with staffing shortages as some teachers and students have protested over a potential merger of the district's two high schools. The protests closed school for two days in October.

Some school board meetings in the last year have been packed by members of the community voicing their opposition to the possible merger.

Former board member Damon Jackey, who voted against a potential merger, later resigned after serving more than 15 years on the board. At the time, Jackey said the way his colleagues on the board had acted in 2023 contributed to his resignation, even accusing them of making unethical and possibly illegal decisions. His resignation was formally accepted during a board meeting on Oct. 24, 2023.

Given the series of events, some feel outside entities need to step in.

"We really need the Kentucky Department of Education, if they could reach out to us, send someone, look into or investigate what's happening here. The Office of Education Accountability if we could get someone here just to listen to people that know this situation the best and lend a hand and some help some understanding for us as a community, as educators, and as people mostly that just love Nelson County Schools and want to see Wes stay and continue all the wonderful work he's done and that we move our students forward and not back," said Trista Wheatley, a teacher in Nelson County Schools.