Weakley County Teacher Facing Possible Dismissal on Unnamed Charges

BY DAVID FISHER

david@dresdenenterprise.com

WEAKLEY COUNTY (May 7) — One of the top items for discussion during Thursday night’s Weakley County School Board meeting was whether or not to pursue charges that could lead to the dismissal of a local teacher.

The board’s attorney, Samuel Jackson, said, “Unfortunately, tonight, you have before you consideration of charges of dismissal of a tenured teacher. You have, I believe, received those charges and hopefully had a chance to read them.”

Jackson stated, what the board needs to decide is, if they believe the charges are proven true, do they warrant dismissal of the teacher.

“You are not deciding if the person is dismissed tonight,” Jackson said. “These are charges. The proof would have to come out in a hearing. What you are doing is reviewing the charges, and if you believe they are true and warrant dismissal, then you would vote ‘yes’ to approve the charges.”

After receiving legal counsel regarding the matter, school board members voted in favor of approving unnamed charges against a tenured Weakley County teacher.

Jackson explained the process involved, once charges are preferred against a school department employee.

“What happens next is Director of Weakley County Schools Randy Frazier will notify the teacher that the board has unanimously voted to approve the charges,” Jackson said. “The teacher will then have 30 days in which to request a hearing. Once this is done, the director has five days to appoint a hearing officer. Then, the hearing officer will set the hearing schedule from that point. I’ll help Director Frazier in making that notification and will report to you once that’s done.”

When quizzed by the media regarding the name of the teacher and the nature of the charges, Director Frazier stated, since it is a legal matter, he cannot provide further information at this time.