Bice Overturns Firing of Birmingham Superintendent
Alabama Department of Education recently took over city school district
The Associated Press
July 19, 2012
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Officials say State Superintendent Tommy Bice has overturned a decision by Birmingham's school board to fire city schools Superintendent Craig Witherspoon.Craig Pouncey, deputy state superintendent of administrative and financial services, says Witherspoon has been reinstated as superintendent.
The Birmingham News reported (http://bit.ly/MIcRx4) that the board on Tuesday night was expected to consider a state financial plan that would have cut more than $12 million from the district's budget, mostly through layoffs and demotions.
Instead, the board heard from audience members, then voted 5-3 to fire the superintendent.
The layoffs have been considered in the past, but the board rejected them June 26, leading to the Alabama Department of Education taking over the city school district the following day.
Meanwhile, access badges for all members of the state intervention team, headed in Birmingham by former state Superintendent Ed Richardson, were disabled Wednesday morning, Richardson said.
Disabling the access badges was a mistake, said Samuetta Drew, the district's chief operations officer who this week was appointed interim superintendent by the school board.
The state team on Wednesday morning began working out of the Tutwiler Hotel, but members were later allowed back into the school system's central office building.