Central KY superintendent gets job back days after board voted for his resignation

A Central Kentucky superintendent has his job back just days after the local school board voted for his resignation, according to school district statements.

District officials would not tell the Herald-Leader why the back and forth occurred.

On Thursday night, Lincoln County Schools’ new attorney Grant Chenoweth told board members their decision to have Superintendent Michael Rowe resign December 31 was not lawfully executed.

Chenoweth said the unlawful move exposed the board to future litigation, a January 6 district statement said.

At a December 27 school board meeting, Rowe suddenly announced that his last day as superintendent would be December 31, 2022. His contract was through June 30, 2023.

Without saying why, the board voted 3-2 for Rowe to leave the superintendent’s office and become a consultant through June 30.

Under that agreement, Rowe would have provided advice and consultation to the board in the areas of facilities, budgets and human resources, and a search for a replacement superintendent began.

Then on Thursday, the Lincoln County Board of Education unanimously voted to rescind the school district consultant agreement with Rowe and to also decline Rowe’s resignation as superintendent.

Chenoweth said the superintendent’s resignation and consultant contract should not have been the topic of closed session discussions.

Chenoweth’s recommendation to the board “was to rescind the consulting agreement and to decline the resignation and go back to the drawing board as to what the relationship looks like for the remainder of the semester,” a district statement said.

Rowe is effectively the superintendent of the Lincoln County School District again.

Chenoweth told the Herald-Leader Sunday he could not any statement beyond what was discussed publicly at the board meeting on January 5.