County School Supt. Rick Smith has allowed Signal Mountain High/Middle School Principal Tom McCullough to take accrued leave rather than be under an end-of-the-year suspension.
Mr. Smith said in an email to school board members that he earlier offered this option to Dr. McCullough, and the principal notified him late Friday afternoon that he had decided to accept it.
The superintendent said he had taken the suspension action after Dr. McCullough announced his upcoming retirement because he felt the need to make immediate leadership changes at the school.
Mr.
Smith earlier this week had notified Dr.McCullough that he was suspended from his job as principal. The suspension was ordered for the remainder of the contract period and was without pay.
Dr. McCullough a short time earlier had announced that he was retiring at the end of this year. He has long been an educator in the Chattanooga area including many years as principal at Hixson High School and David Brainerd School prior to his time at Signal Mountain.
A number of Signal Mountain seniors were suspended for drinking on a senior trip to the Bahamas, then seven chaperones who were on the trip were suspended as well for incidents involving drinking. Five of those chaperones have received letters from the state saying their teaching contracts have been flagged for a year.
A number of those associated with Signal Mountain High/Middle School had started a petition drive in support of Dr. McCullough after the suspension was issued.
Mr. Smith said in the late Friday email, "On Friday, May 25, 2012, at 5:02 p.m., I received a request from Dr. Tom McCullough that he be allowed to use his accrued leave in lieu of serving a suspension without pay through the end of his contract, June 30, 2012. I had presented this very option to Dr. McCullough on Monday, May 14, 2012, even before he gave notice of his intent to retire, explaining that, in view of issues that had been developing throughout the school year, I felt the need to make an immediate change in the school administration. When Dr. McCullough refused this option and announced his retirement, I suspended him so I could proceed with the school's administrative changes.
"I have granted Dr. McCullough's request subject to the understanding that he not be on the campus of SMMHS. Since HCDE would have paid Dr. McCullough for his accrued unused leave after his contract expired on June 30, 2012, this decision does not have any financial impact on the school system."