Six interview for vacant Southwestern school board seat, no update on superintendent's administrative leave

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Three men and three women stood before the Southwestern Consolidated Schools board Wednesday night to be interviewed for the vacant Jackson Township seat.

Kimmy Ayers, John Blue, Jon Deater, Chad Denison, Charity Mohr and Leah Schoolcraft answered questions from the five board members present for Wednesday’s special meeting. Board member Isaac Pile was not in attendance.

The six candidates are seeking the seat recently vacated by Jerry Drake.

Also not in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting, which included executive sessions prior to and following the interview session, was superintendent Josh Edwards, who was put on administrative leave at the previous school board meeting on Nov. 8.

The reason for the administrative leave has not been announced publicly because it is a personnel matter. Southwestern Junior/Senior High School principal John Tindall was named interim superintendent at that same Nov. 8 meeting.

There is not an ongoing investigation into Edwards. There is no timeline for his return to duties. The words “indefinite administrative leave” were used at the Nov. 8 meeting.

In March of 2022 Edwards was named superintendent, replacing Curt Chase, who resigned on February 9, 2022. There were concerns then that Edwards, the elementary school principal, was not yet qualified to hold the position.

There also was an unfair labor claim filed at the same time with the Indiana Education Employee Relations Board by the Southwestern teachers association against Edwards and Drake.

Drake was in attendance at the Nov. 8 meeting and was the lone vote against putting Edwards on indefinite administrative leave. Several days later, he vacated his seat.

The next step in replacing Drake is to cut the field of six candidates down to three and bring them back to the Dec. 13 school board meeting for a final vote by the school board members.

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