Norfolk board holds second vote to hire superintendent

NORFOLK

Trying to doctor its fumbled hiring decision a week ago, the School Board voted again Tuesday - this time, with its attorney present - to make Richard Bentley the division's next superintendent.

School Board Chairman Stephen Tonelson said the meeting was held because he was uncomfortable with the process the board followed June 21 in selecting Bentley.

"I didn't want people to question the result based on procedure," he said.

The board voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve Bentley's contract. Members Linda McCluney and Karen Jones Squires were absent.

Tuesday's vote came a day after Tonelson told The Virginian-Pilot that he erred last week in saying Bentley was approved in a 7-0 vote. The board's vote actually was 3-3. Tonelson said he simply misspoke.

The board also issued a news release last week citing a unanimous decision. Bentley is an associate superintendent in El Paso, Texas. He did not return a telephone message Tuesday.

"Instead of saying it was a 7-0 vote, I should have said Dr. Bentley had unanimous support," Tonelson said.

Tonelson, who was reappointed to the board Tuesday by the City Council, acknowledged that Bentley was not the first choice of each board member at the June 21 meeting.

"All of us had different thoughts about who our best person would be, and I think it's important to say that by the end of the meeting, Dr. Bentley was the candidate that all seven of us - six of us who were there, and one other - supported," he said.

Tonelson on Tuesday also backtracked on his statement a day earlier that the board's vote last week was in an open meeting.

He said he would not dispute the account of a Pilot reporter who was present outside the entire closed meeting and did not witness an open vote.

He declined to identify how each member voted in the tie because it took place in a closed meeting, he said. However, he said that he did not initially depict Bentley's selection as unanimous to conceal a divided board.

"I was thinking of the agreement that he was our best candidate rather than the vote itself," he said.

Board m ember Billy Cook did not attend the June 21 meeting but told the board of his preference for Bentley before he left the state for military duty.

Cook, who said in an interview Monday that he also voted June 21 by telephone, said Tuesday that he had been misquoted and that he did not participate in that meeting.

State law allows board members to participate electronically in meetings only because of emergencies or medical conditions.

"My going out of town for military duty does not take me from my responsibilities here," he said Tuesday. "I simply made known to them what my desire was in terms of superintendent."

Board member Jim Driggers said that during Tuesday's meeting, which included a nearly 2-1/2 -hour closed session, there was a lengthy review of the final draft of Bentley's contract.

"Dr. Bentley doesn't want to come until Aug. 1 and he does have loose ends to tie up," Driggers said. "We have the good fortune of being able to take our time and make sure the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed."

City Attorney Bernard Pishko did not return a phone message to his office Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday, he told The Pilot that the board actually did not hire Bentley last week but only indicated its preference for negotiating a contract with that candidate.

He said Bentley would be hired at the point that the board approved a contract for Bentley in open meeting - which is what occurred Tuesday.

On the advice of the state education department, the board also appointed Michael Spencer on Tuesday as interim superintendent for July, pending Bentley's start in the job. Spencer is the division's chief operating officer.

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com