Hamilton County school board members anxious to get rid of the superintendent say secrecy over retirement pay for board members could be the first step in his "unraveling."
Board of Education members will discuss Dr. Jim Scales' performance next week.
Member Rhonda Thurman said one of the first issues she will raise will be Scales' failure to tell the board that the school system had deposited $22,000 into outgoing member Janice Boydston's IRA account before members voted whether to rescind the pension plan.
"There's just no trust there," said board member Rhonda Thurman.
BY THE NUMBERSProjected initial payments to Board of Education members for retirement:* Chip Baker, $7,500* Chester Bankston $3,000* Janice Boydston $21,750* Everett Fairchild $12,750* Linda Mosely $1,500* Rhonda Thurman $4,500* George Ricks $1,500* Kenny Smith $3,000 (declined)* Jeffrey Wilson $3,750Source: Hamilton County SchoolsIF YOU GOThe school board will meet in a work session to discuss Superintendent Jim Scales' performance at 5 p.m. Sept. 30 in the board room at 3704 Hickory Valley Road.
Scales said once the board approves a program or contract, members typically are not given information about every payment.
"While the actions of the Administration were proper, it was an oversight to not tell the board about the initial payment," Dr. Scales said in a statement. "It is also not consistent with the administration's policy of transparency."
Former school board members Chester Bankston and Kenny Smith have not yet received their retirement money. Both will get about $3,000 for four years' service.
Smith said he won't accept the money, while Bankston, who now serves on the Hamilton County Commission, said he will give it to the schools in his district.
Bankston, who said he may come to the Scales evaluation meeting next week, said the move warrants firing the superintendent.
"I was totally shocked," Bankston said of the early deposit. "When I tried to get (the retirement pay plan) reversed, how many people knew she'd been paid? Nobody mentioned anything about it."
Boydston retired after 29 years of service on the former Chattanooga school board and the county board.
She said she had Chief Financial Officer Tommy Kranz deposit the money in her IRA on Aug. 23, four days after the board initially approved giving board members $750 for each year of service.
Kranz and Scales did nothing wrong, she said.
"I, myself, said to send mine to the credit union, and that's what was done. What any other board member did with theirs, that's not my business ... I was not each school board member's keeper. I have nothing to hide," she said.
The money was in her IRA account three days before the board decided to vote again on the retirement pay issue, she said. The vote to rescind was 4-4, with one absent, so members kept their retirement pay.
If the board had voted to rescind the payments, she would have paid any penalties associated with the decision, she said.
"That would be between me and the IRS," she said.
She said she still must pay taxes on the money she's received.
Boydston said raising this as an issue is just an attempt to get rid of Scales.
"That's just a way to get at a man who's doing a good job," she said.