Mar. 17—By a 5-2 vote, the Marietta school board renewed the contracts of its principals and administrators at this week's board meeting.
Every year, the board approves contracts of principals and administrators before they are issued to staff for a one-year renewal.
After discussing the matter in executive session Tuesday night, newly elected board members Jaillene Hunter and A.B. Almy requested the personnel list be split so that separate votes could be taken on different staff. That vote failed 2-5 before the board adopted the full list 5-2 with Almy and Hunter voting no.
"Unfortunately, I am not comfortable giving my approval to every person on the slate, so, therefore, I had to vote no after attempting to break the slate without success," Hunter said in a statement to the MDJ.
Almy did not provide a statement by press time.
While no principal was mentioned by name, the vote comes amid public concerns over student fights at Marietta High School. Residents and board members expressed concerns about the safety of students and staff at last month's board meeting.
Board member Jason Waters told the MDJ Wednesday the discipline issue was being addressed.
"When this first came to our attention, I asked (Superintendent Grant) Rivera and (Chairwoman Kerry Minervini) to add two additional school resource officers at Marietta High School and one at the middle school, which was done immediately," Waters said. "I also asked for an immediate review of discipline policy, which has been done, and ongoing monitoring to ensure that board policy is being followed to the strictest of standards."
Schools across the country have seen a rise in discipline problems, Waters said, but "we have to fix our problem here (in Marietta), and we have the resources to fix it here, and we will."
The vote renews contracts for the following staff members:
— Keith Ball, principal at Marietta High
— Jillian Johnson, principal at Burruss Elementary
— Ayodele Richardson, principal at Dunleith Elementary
— Kristen Beaudin, principal at Hickory Hills Elementary
— Coretta Stewart, principal at Lockheed Elementary
— Tricia Patterson, principal at Marietta Center for Advanced Academics
— Diona Brown, principal at Marietta Middle School
— Corey Lawson, principal at Marietta Sixth Grade Academy
— Alex Soto, principal at Park Street Elementary
— Susan Graves, principal at Sawyer Road Elementary
— Christina Wagoner, principal at Westside Elementary
— Jen Brock, chief communications officer
— Michele Sayles Harris, chief of special services and educational support