{"id":35429,"date":"2022-12-13T17:52:57","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T23:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=35429"},"modified":"2022-12-13T17:53:40","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T23:53:40","slug":"oklahoma-governor-appoints-new-member-to-embattled-western-heights-school-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/12\/13\/oklahoma-governor-appoints-new-member-to-embattled-western-heights-school-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma governor appoints new member to embattled Western Heights school board"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Western Heights Board of Education is back in business following Gov. Kevin Stitt\u2019s appointment of a new board member. The move comes in response to the resignation of three board members who oversaw multiple operational failures.<\/span><\/p>

Robert Everman was the former Western Heights school board president, and he\u2019ll be replaced by Jerome Johnson \u2014 a father of two children who attend an elementary school in the district. Johnson came from a list of candidates compiled by the district\u2019s administration and reviewed by the state Board of Education, which ultimately recommended him to the governor.<\/span><\/p>

Everman and two other members who regularly vote with him resigned last month, leading to the district not having enough personnel on its board to hold meetings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The Oklahoma Board of Education <\/span>had been calling for Everman to resign for over a year<\/span><\/a><\/span>, saying he\u2019s a \u201ccancer\u201d and \u201cscorn\u201d on the district. Everman said his departure wasn\u2019t due to public pressure, but rather was a result of personal health issues.<\/span><\/p>

Last year, the state Board suspended Western Heights\u2019 superintendent \u2014 who had what was described as an \u201c<\/span>incestuous<\/span><\/a>\u201d business relationship with Everman \u2014 installed its own and took over district operations. This came after massive losses of students and employees, financial mismanagement, retaliatory behavior toward staff and parents, and some of the <\/span>lowest academics in the state<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Everman unsuccessfully fought the takeover and tried to block the release of an audit showing incorrect reporting and over a million dollars spent in violation of the district\u2019s bid policy. The Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector\u2019s office is currently investigating Western Heights\u2019 financial reports.<\/span><\/p>

Western Heights\u2019 school board may appoint two members to replace the other resignations in the meantime, but one of those positions is up for election in the next few months. A primary election for the District 3 position is scheduled for Feb. 14, and the general election will be April 4. <\/span>Three contenders<\/span><\/a> are vying for the open seat.<\/span><\/p>

Update: Tuesday, Dec. 13<\/em><\/p>

At Monday\u2019s school board meeting, the Western Heights Board of Education accepted the resignation of its embattled superintendent, Mannix Barnes.<\/span><\/p>

Barnes served as superintendent at Western Heights where he earned $220,000 a year \u2014 one of the highest superintendent wages in the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

During his two-year tenure, the outgoing superintendent oversaw two years of operational failures that led to the district being put on probation and investigations by the state auditor and OSBI. The district spent nearly $370,000 in legal fees to fight the state board of education over Mannix\u2019s subsequent suspension.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Barnes has been accused of having a <\/span>cozy relationship<\/span><\/a> with Robert Everman, the now-ousted school board president, after having worked with him in other positions for over a decade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Barnes\u2019 district contract was set to expire in 2024, but he agreed to retire at the end of this calendar year, be stripped of his educator\u2019s certificate and is barred from suing the district in the future. And for that, he\u2019ll get a $150,000 settlement.<\/span><\/p>

In a statement, <\/span>the district acknowledged<\/span><\/a> the settlement might not be popular, but that it was necessary to avoid a lengthy trial and legal fees \u2014 especially because the district has already spent <\/span>over half a million dollars<\/span><\/a> in legal fees since June last year.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Western Heights Board of Education is back in business following Gov. Kevin Stitt\u2019s appointment of a new board member. The move comes in response to the resignation of three board members who oversaw multiple operational failures.Robert Everman was the former Western Heights school board president, and he\u2019ll be replaced by Jerome Johnson \u2014 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":34171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[1320,1491,1029,1490],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35431,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35429\/revisions\/35431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}