At least six apply for Kingsport superintendent, city attorney says private 1-on-1 interviews legal

CANDIDATE LIST

The only local or regional candidate on the list as of Friday afternoon is a familiar face in Kingsport City Schools: interim Superintendent Chris Hampton, who moved into that role from his position as Dobyns-Bennett principal.

Hampton took the temporary position Nov. 1, following the Oct. 31 retirement of Jeff Moorhouse. In alphabetical order, the candidates as of Friday evening were:

1. Jaime Cole, former superintendent, Northampton County Public Schools, Machipongo, Virginia.

2. Jerry Gibson, superintendent, Galveston ISD (Independent School District), Galveston, Texas.

3. Christopher Hampton, interim superintendent, Kingsport City Schools.

4. William Horniak, senior consultant for CM & OE, Maximum Potential Inc., Dayton, Ohio. He is a new applicant since the Times News last checked the list.

5. Kelly Linkenhoker, principal, Radford City Public Schools, Radford, Virginia.

6. Scott Paul, secondary mathematics curriculum coordinator, Oklahoma City Public Schools, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is also a new applicant since the Times News last checked the list.

The list comes from the Tennessee School Boards Association, which is vetting the applicants and is to provide a list of the top three candidates the BOE plans to interview later this month.

However, the board can choose to interview other hopefuls if it wants.

A final list from TSBA covering any last-minute applicants won’t be available until Monday, according to an email from a TSBA staff member who reported no new applicants as of 4:43 p.m. local time Friday, which was 3:43 p.m. in Nashville.

TSBA collected applications for the Sullivan County director, too, but gave the 13 to the school board without top choices. The county board did that after reviewing printed resumes and the applications.

The criteria for getting the city position including holding a Ph.D., also known as a doctorate degree, and having at least five years administrative experience as a principal or system administrator such as superintendent, director of schools or other central office position.

Neighboring Sullivan County has tapped Chuck Carter of Hamblen County at the end of its search, with the school board there voting 6-1 Thursday to approve Carter’s contract.

A criminal background check will be done on him, and he is to start full-time no later than July 1, when the contract begins. However, he will be paid on a pro-rated basis based on his salary, and he could start sooner.

Carter and West Ridge High School Principal Josh Davis were the county finalists, chosen from a group of 13 narrowed to three and then two. The third semifinalist was Deidre Pendley, assistant principal at Tennessee High School and over Bristol Tennessee Schools career technical education.

ROWLETT’S OPINION LETTER

“Under appropriate circumstances individual interviews would be permissible,” Rowlett wrote to the board in an opinion letter dated Jan. 30.

The BOE is clearly a “governing body” pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 8-44-102(b)(1),” Rowlett wrote.

“All meetings of governing bodies are declared to be public meetings and must be open to the public at all times. A meeting is defined by the act as ‘... the convening of a governing body of a public body for which a quorum is required in order to make a decision or to deliberate toward a decision’ “ and does not include a chance meeting under TCA 8-44-102©, although he wrote such “chance meetings cannot be used to make decisions or deliberate on matters in circumvention of the act.”

“A one-on-one interview between a current board member and a candidate would not meet the definition of a ‘meeting’ as no two or more members of the governing body would be convening for the purpose of deliberating or making a decision,” he wrote.

“A 1999 Attorney General Opinion provided at the request of the City of Kingsport offers support for this conclusion. When asked whether individual members of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen could meet one on one with a consultant, the Attorney General opined this was permissible.

“One-on-one meetings with a consultant would not constitute the convening of a public meeting. However, members of the governing body could not utilize the consultant to indirectly deliberate towards or make a decision,” he wrote, referencing Attorney General Opinion 99-193.

“Based on the text of the Open Meetings Act and Attorney General Opinion cited herein, one-on-one interviews of candidates by individual board members would not constitute a meeting. Therefore, one-on-one interviews would be permissible and not subject to the requirements of the Open Meetings Act,” Rowlett wrote.

“However, any deliberations among board members toward a decision must be conducted through a properly noticed public meeting conducted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act.”

Board member Jim Welch indicated during a Jan. 25 work session others could attend his one-on-one interview with candidates, and Vice Chairman Todd Golden said he would do the same.

Board President Melissa Woods and member Brandon Fletcher indicated support only for a full board interview of the top three candidates, while Golden, Julie Byers and Welch said they supported public but individual interviews.

The board will meet with TSBA Executive Director Tammy Grissom at its Feb. 13 meeting to get the top three candidates as chosen by TSBA and decided how to proceed with interviews.

Grissom in a newspaper interview said closed-door, one-on-one interviews with board members would{span} “violate the spirit of the open meetings law.” However, when later questioned by Golden via email strictly about one-on-one interviews without specifying if they were closed, Grissom referred the question to the board attorney.