A passing vote from the Coffee County School Board to pause a hiring process until they can discuss the position called into question the purview of the Board as a whole.

During the March 10 meeting, Board member Holly Matthews requested to add an action item before the agenda was approved to discuss the Director of 6-8 Curriculum and Instruction position that will become vacant after the retirement of Dr. Stephen Blessing at the end of the school year.

Matthews also made the motion to pause the application and hiring process until the Board can discuss it in more detail with a second from Board member Scott Hansert.

“I didn’t have anything specific,” said Matthews. “I think the Board just wants to talk about that position… before we start taking applications and thinking about hiring.”

Director of Schools Scott Hargrove clarified that the job posting had already been closed and interviews were being scheduled for the following week.

Hansert explained that the Board has the right to dissolve a position and was asking Hargrove to put the process on hold for a little while.

“You do have that right, but respectfully, I wholeheartedly disagree,” responded Hargrove. “There’s a lot more to a job than a job description.”

Board member Robert Gilley noted that getting rid of a position while it is filled is something that the Board wouldn’t typically do.

“Best I remember, that’s been a very dangerous area for the Board to enter in,” said Gilley. “I really believe we better think about this before we go on because the only thing that, like Mr. Hansert said, we can eliminate a position, but that’s all we can do.”

Hargrove mentioned that they could discuss the matter at the Board’s Spring Retreat work session which led to Matthews amending her motion to specify discussing at the work session.

Hansert asked if it would not be better to pause the process and then hire someone later in case they decide to get rid of the position to which Hargrove responded that they have found that “the early bird gets the worm.”

“Those folks are going to find jobs that have applied for it and other positions in other districts,” he said. “We do that with our teachers. We try to get jobs posted quickly because it is a very competitive market. With this position, the value that is walking out the door and the expertise that is walking out the door, that also might allow us some time for Dr. Blessing to assist that person.”

Matthews stated that she thought there would be plenty of time to hire after the work session which Hargrove said he “humbly disagreed” with. Hansert added that he was concerned with how many people were doing the job.

“I think, from my perspective, we’ve got a $131,000 job here a year that we’re looking at, and we’ve got two people already doing that position,” he explained. “In my looking at it, we’ve got three people doing that same job where most other school districts doesn’t have but two.”

“I humbly disagree there as well… Every school district has its own set of challenges, and the other two people, they don’t do Dr. Blessing’s job,” replied Hargrove. “He does all those things that are in his job description and what is on the duties list. The other two supervisors have a whole different list of duties, and I guarantee he earns every penny that he walks out with every 15th of the month.”

Gilley “formally bowed out” of the discussion and the vote on the motion on the floor until proper legal representation can answer if it was in the Board’s purview to intervene at that point.

“We hire and fire a Director of Schools,” said Gilley. “Not to get into the day-to-day business of operational control in which we hire and fire the Director for. That’s everything we’ve ever been taught, told and learned… I’m out of this discussion.”

Matthews reiterated that no one was asking to eliminate the position.

“We’re only asking for more time for more time for discussion in a work session,” she said. “That’s all. We’re just saying pause it.”

“You’re not even talking about the position,” replied Gilley. “You’re talking about the concept of him hiring or doing his job in which he’s appointed to do.”

Blessing was given the floor to speak on his position. He explained that he was first put in the position in 2005 to cover curriculum for grades 6-12 in addition to a host of other duties with the position “mutating” under former director Dr. LaDonna Mc-Fall.

“I think the job description that you see is more brief and that’s why you have a duties list, and it’s a little more detailed about some things,” he said. “That’s just things that have happened with his position… you get an idea of everything this position is responsible for.”

When asked to describe the position in word by McFall during her tenure, Blessing chose “support.”

“Speaking as someone who’s been at this job for 21 years, I think it’s an important position in order to meet all of the growing expectations of the state,” said Blessing. “They’ve been adding on all of these different things.”

In agreement with Gilley, Board member Beth Yentsch said that she believed that the Board hires a director to know what the county needs in the school system.

“I feel like we’re stepping over into an area that really doesn’t belong to the Board,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the Board’s job to decide what the duties… of this position are. That’s not the job of the school board.”

When asked by Yentsch what the point of discussing the position would be, Matthews said she thought they should discuss the feasibility of the position and if it was something that was needed in the future to make sure tax dollars were spent “wisely and with deep purpose.”

The motion passed 6-2 with Yentsch voting no. When asked for his vote by Vice Chair Freda Jones who led the meeting in Chairman Thomas Ballard’s absence, Gilley responded: “Mrs. Chair, I will not participate in a frivolous vote outside of the purview of myself as a Board member.”