Oregon bill would offer protections to superintendents
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A bill under consideration in the Oregon Senate in the wake of three high-profile dismissals would offer school superintendents some protections from no-cause terminations in the future.
Senate Bill 1521 would require school boards to provide 12 months of notice before the termination of a superintendent with no cause, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Friday. They could still fire superintendents with cause.
The bill text also states that a district cannot direct a superintendent to ignore or violate state or federal law or take action against a superintendent who follows state or federal law.
The bill comes after three controversial superintendent firings in Oregon last year in the cities of Albany, Adrian and Newberg.
In testimony before the Senate Education Committee, Coquille Superintendent Tim Sweeney referenced what he called “skyrocketing” levels of superintendent turnover in the state.
“For the current school year, there were 43 superintendent vacancies. And so far, there are already 35 vacancies — with more expected — heading into the 2022-23 school year," he said. "This is out of a total of 216 positions in Oregon.”
Opponents of the bill, including the superintendent of a district that is flouting a K-12 mask mandate in its schools, say it would take away local control from the community members who know their districts the best.
The bill "is a very controversial infringement of school board authority and autonomy,” Marc Thielman, superintendent of the Alsea School District, said at public hearing Thursday. Thielman is running for governor and has crossed swords more than once with the state health authorities over mask mandates in his schools.
Other than Thielman, superintendents who submitted testimony have been overwhelmingly...