PATTON BOARD FIRES PRINCIPAL

PATTON -- The Meadow Heights Board of Education has fired the high school principal who blew the whistle last year on financial problems in the district.

On a tie vote, the school board behind closed doors voted Thursday night not to renew the contract of Principal Rick Chastain when it expires at the end of June.

Chastain said Friday that the board acted illegally, violating a federal law that protects whistle-blowers and a state law that spells out specific procedures that must be followed to terminate tenured employees.

He said he was fired for turning in evidence to school board president Roy Allen that fictitious names had been added to the student rolls in 1990-91 and 1991-92, boosting the school district's state aid by thousands of dollars.

Then-superintendent Tom Waller resigned July 11 after the inflated attendance figures were disclosed.

Chastain said he would fight the school board's action. "I am not giving up. I have come too far to back out now."

The school board fired Chastain on a 3-3 vote, with one abstention. The vote came during the closed meeting Thursday night that lasted more than two hours, ending shortly before midnight.

Chastain said Allen and board members Phyllis Bollinger and Junior Cook voted against renewing the contract.

Dennis Mouser, Millie Yates and Harold Miinch voted to renew the contract. Board member Sandy Raines abstained.

Both Mouser and Raines are seeking re-election this spring.

Chastain criticized Raines for abstaining. "It's a chicken way out," he said, noting that her vote sealed his fate.

He said he hadn't done anything as principal to warrant being fired. "I have nothing to hide. I have no skeletons in my closet," he said.

Chastain said he informed Allen of the fictitious student names last summer after learning of the problem from school staff.

He said Allen replied that other school districts were doing the same thing.

Chastain said federal law prohibits the firing of employees for exposing wrongdoing.

He said he also has tenure as a principal. State law, he said, prevents the firing of tenured school employees except for specific reasons such as incompetency or immoral conduct.

Even then, the school board must notify the tenured employee of the charges against him and hold a public hearing before taking any action.

Chastain said the board didn't follow those procedures.

Mouser agreed with Chastain that the board acted illegally. Mouser said "the law means nothing" to some school board members.

Like Chastain, Mouser believes the firing was in retaliation for the whistle-blowing last summer.

Chastain has been the district's high school principal for the past five years. Mouser said Chastain has received good evaluations.

Mouser said the new superintendent, Cheri Fuemmeler, didn't take a stand on the contract renewal issue.

Other board members either refused comment or couldn't be reached to comment Friday.

The closed meeting followed an open session. About 40 people attended that meeting. Several of them asked the board to keep Chastain.