MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - It's been the big question all along: Who will lead the new Memphis-Shelby County Unified School Board? The board met Monday night, hoping to bring some clarity to that question. It didn't.
The only agenda item at Monday's meeting was the Employment Contract for Dr. Kriner Cash.
Things didn't get off to a smooth start, when several board members expressed surprise that buyout discussions with Dr. Cash actually started in December.
"It appears to me that process has not been honored," said school board member Teresa Jones. "I guess for the last five months there have been conversations that were not public to this board as a whole? So who initiated those conversations?"
Billy Orgel, the board chairman, said buyout discussions started in December after a "very-heated exchange" in Dr. Cash's office.
Orgel said Monday night he doesn't remember who initiated those buyout talks.
"It has been 7 months," Orgel said.
That answer did not sit well with at least one board member.
"I have grave concerns this, the public's business, has been conducted behind closed doors," said board member Martavius Jones.
In a letter to an attorney for the school board, Dr. Cash's attorney said the superintendent "will be forced to review his options going forward."
In the end, the board decided not to vote on Dr. Cash's contract. Instead, it will consider Cash's contract, and that of Shelby County Schools Superintendent John Aitken, when it meets on June 19.
