Fayette County School System Superintendent Jeff Bearden lost out in his bid to become the next head of the Floyd County School System. Bearden was one of two finalists for the top job, but the Floyd County Board of Education on Nov. 5 selected one of its own to fill the position.
The northwest Georgia board voted Monday to hire Jeff McDaniel, the school system’s chief of academics.
That leaves Bearden without a job when his “mutual termination” from the Fayette system becomes effective Dec. 31 this year.
The Floyd County website in late October announced that Bearden and McDaniel were the two finalists for the position. It was on Sept. 19 that Bearden and the Fayette school board entered into what they described as a mutual termination agreement that cited Dec. 31 as his last day of employment.
But according to documents on the Floyd County School System website, Bearden completed an application and résumé for superintendent’s job on Sept. 4, a full two weeks before he and the Fayette County school board agreed to the mutual termination. Bearden’s application was date-stamped by the Floyd County School System on Sept. 6.
So did anyone on the school board know on Sept. 19 that Bearden had completed his application for Floyd County back on Sept. 4?
On his Floyd County application Bearden said school board Chair Leonard Presberg and Vice Chair Terri Smith were aware of his application submittal. And on his résumé, Bearden listed Presberg, Smith, school board member Janet Smola and school system attorney Phillip Hartley as references.
As for the two remaining board members, Marion Key and Bob Todd indicated that they were not aware of the Floyd County application at the time of the Sept. 19 meeting.
