Two Portland Public Schools board members say they were not consulted about the timeline of Superintendent Carole Smith’s retirement.
On Tuesday Smith announced she will step down at the end of her contract in 2017.
Smith and board chair Tom Koehler portrayed the move as the school board letting her retire on her own timetable. But board member Paul Anthony said he was not consulted about the decision.
"It’s absolutely not true that the board collectively asked her to stay on," Anthony said. "I don’t know what kind of back deal she worked out with other people, but I was certainly not consulted. And I was not let known until the news had come out to the press."
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Anthony says he would rather Smith step down immediately.
"The district is in chaos right now," he said. "We have completely sacrificed any confidence the public has in us."
PPS board member Steve Buel also said that he was not notified about Smith’s timetable for retirement.
“I wasn’t consulted before the decision was made,” Buel said. “My understanding is it was her decision.”
Buel said his focus is not so much on when Smith steps down, but rather on fixing the major problems in the school district.
Both board members said that they would like to see more transparency from the district and better communication between the superintendent and the school board.
“This level of failure to communicate has been typical all the way through the lead crisis,” Anthony said. “Most of the news I’ve gotten about it has been through the press.”