Champaign Schools Tight-Lipped on Personnel Agreement

Champaign school officials are expected to release more information Tuesday afternoon on a personnel agreement reached with an unnamed employee.

It's not known whether Monday night's seven-to-nothing vote involves Superintendent Arthur Culver, who's now the lone finalist for a superintendent's job in Georgia. The action was taken Monday night following a 40-minute closed session in a special meeting to discuss personnel.

Unit 4 school board president Dave Tomlinson declined comment on Culver's status, as well as what's happening with the superintendent's search at the DeKalb County School District in suburban Atlanta.

"It's inappropriate for us to comment on anything about what's going on in Georgia," said Tomlinson. "We don't know - I don't know anything about what's going on in Georgia, so it's inappropriate for that."

Unit 4's press conference is set for Tuesday at 3-30 p.m. at the Mellon Administrative Center. Meanwhile, the DeKalb County School board is holding its own closed-door meeting Tuesday morning to discuss the next steps in its superintendent search. Culver became the remaining finalist for superintendent after Lillie Cox, a superintendent from Hickory, North Carolina, withdrew her name from consideration over the weekend. Exposure of details in those negotiations reportedly played a part in her withdrawal.

But a spokesman for the district says it's unclear what direction the board will take, despite Culver being the lone finalist. Jeff Dickerson speculates the board could hire Culver, choose to look at prior candidates, or start its superintendent's search over from scratch.

DeKalb County's School Board President, Tom Bowen, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution there's a chance Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson could be asked to apply for the permanent position. But Dickerson says she hasn't asked to be considered, nor has she been approached about the job at this point.