Morning Read: Lake Placid school crisis nears end, Richards to leave
The Plattsburgh Press-Republican is reporting this morning that the Lake Placid board of education will not renew the contract of Randy Richards, the controversial superintendent who has been a lightning rod for months.
“The Board of Education indicated that they will not be renewing my contract,” he said in a statement released over the weekend.
Richards has been the target of much acrimony and outrage since it became public knowledge that, in February 2011 during a personnel discusion, he told Lake Placid Middle School Principal Katherine Mulderig he needed someone “bitchier” to manage the “bitchy” teachers at the elementary school.
He acknowledged he made the statement and apologized.
Richards was the target of a petition effort to remove him from office, and his tenure became the focus of the most recent school board election. The case has also sparked litigation. Read the full article here.
Tags: education, lake placid, richards, teachers
The school board withstood immense newspaper pressure to fire Superintendent Richards and to settle excessively generously with the EEOC complainant. Instead, they stood their ground, took their lawyer’s advice, and should be commended for keeping the matter dignified and focused. Every Superintendent will have personnel issues and folks who are just not happy and who want his pelt no matter what price is paid.
Objectively, Superintendent Richards got the District through a very difficult time, administratively and financially – even though he made several large mistakes, which he has acknowledged. The District will be lucky to get a successor as able as him.
It doesn’t sound like there was any dispute that he transferred a woman principal for no other reason than her gender. They’d have likely lost that EEOC case had they not settled. Good that he’s gone, and better that they didn’t have to pay him any severance to go early.