CLARK TAKES SUPERINTENDENT JOB IN INDIANA

The former Cape Girardeau school superintendent, Dr. Neyland Clark, accepted a job as superintendent of a southern Indiana school district Thursday.

He starts July 1 at the South Harrison school district in Corydon, Ind., a town about 25 miles north of Louisville, Ky.

Clark was approved unanimously by the seven-member school board at a special meeting Thursday night. About 100 people from the school district attended a reception for Clark following the meeting.

"We are anxiously awaiting his arrival on the job," said Richard Flickner, president of the South Harrison school board.

Clark, who served as superintendent in Cape Girardeau for 4 1/2 years, was fired last December.

He told the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper that shifting political winds cost him his job in Cape Girardeau and that he was happy to be coming home to Indiana.

Clark grew up in nearby Clark County, Ind. He graduated from Indiana University and worked as an assistant superintendent at a southern Indiana school district before becoming superintendent at Bullitt County, Ky. Clark left the job in Kentucky amidst controversy and came to Cape Girardeau.

Flickner said board members found Clark personable and well informed on educational issues. "He came very highly recommended from several reliable sources," Flickner said.

The board president said search committee members spoke with some current and former members of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education and representatives of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. He said they also talked with school officials and a representative of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Flickner said board members knew Clark had problems while in Cape Girardeau, but they weren't discouraged from choosing him.

"With a school board and a superintendent, sometimes if the chemistry isn't right it just doesn't work," Flickner said. "It seems to be right here."

Clark's 4 1/2 years with Cape Girardeau schools were tumultuous. Under his leadership the district was unsuccessful in three ballot efforts and faced a number of controversies.

Decisions by Clark concerning commencement at Central High School generated considerable negative community reaction, compounded later by revelations of sloppy record keeping and questionable charges on a school district American Express credit card account.

Community confidence in the superintendent eroded until December 1995 when the board voted to fire Clark and give him a year's salary severance pay as spelled out in his contract.

Clark will make about $77,000 at his new job. In Cape Girardeau, his salary package was $112,000, but Clark told a newspaper reporter in Indiana that admittance to the Indiana retirement system would more than make up the $35,000 salary difference. Clark also will continue to receive severance pay through the end of 1996.

When the former South Harrison superintendent took a job at a larger school district, Flickner said, 26 people applied for the job, including Clark. University professors narrowed the pool, and the board picked Clark.

The South Harrison school district includes nine buildings, 3,200 students and is growing, Flickner said. Cape Girardeau schools have about 4,500 students in nine buildings.

The city of Corydon has a population of about 6,000 people, but the school district encompasses about half of Harrison County.