News from March
17, 2005 issue
Coach will
not be retried
Special prosecutor Brucie Moore of Morganfield will not retry
the Curtis Payne harassment case again in Crittenden District
Court, according to court records.
Payne, a former Crittenden County High School football coach,
is accused of slapping a player, Shawnte Moss, aboard a team bus
last October.
The coach was originally charged with fourth-degree assault, Class
A misdemeanor, but the charge was amended to harassment, a Class
B misdemeanor, before it went to trial in January. The player's
mother brought the charge against Payne.
A six-person jury deliberated for more than four hours after the
one-day trial Jan. 26, but deadlocked at 5-1 and could not reach
a unanimous verdict. Jurors who spoke on the condition of anonymity
said the majority wanted to acquit Payne.
Instead of retrying the case, the state prosecutor agreed last
week to defer the charge until Oct. 4, which would be one year
from the date of the alleged infraction. If Payne has not had
any other troubles with the law, the case will likely be dismissed,
his attorney Raymond McGee of Smithland said last week.
Student charged with gun violation
A 19-year-old high school senior is facing a felony weapons charge
after police found a loaded .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun
under the seat of his pickup truck at the Crittenden County High
School parking lot.
Through their investigation, police don't believe the student
was intent on taking the gun into the school. However, it's a
serious offense to have a gun on school grounds.
"We have no reason to believe he meant any harm to anyone
at the school," Marion Police Chief Kenneth Winn said. "Many
people don't realize that it's a felony to have a gun anywhere
on school property."
The student also had a knife and an ax in his truck. The weapons
were found during the investigation of another 16-year-old student
who police think vandalized the Ed-Tech Center twice recently.
21
apply for superintendent's job
Twenty-one applicants are seeking the superintendent's job at
Crittenden School District.
The Superintendent Screening Committee, charged with sorting through
applications and recommending a list of finalists to the Board
of Education, met Tuesday night for the first time. It released
some general demographic data regarding those individuals who
have applied for the job.
Of the 21 applicants, 19 are male and two are female. Three are
currently superintendents of other school districts, five are
central office personnel and six are school principals. Three
work in some type of education organization and four were listed
as other.
Four of the candidates have doctoral degrees.
"This is a very good number," said Ken Scott, the district's
hired, independent consultant who is helping with the search process.
"I am pleased with the quality and quantity," he said.
"This is a really good number for a statewide search and
for a small district."
Scott said that although the job was only advertised within the
state, five of the applicants are from outside Kentucky. One is
from India, one from New Hampshire, one from Tennessee and one
from Alabama. Scott said those individuals likely learned of the
job opening on the Kentucky School Boards Association's web site
where the position was listed.
The screening committee met briefly in open session before going
into a private session at which time it discussed specific applicants.
That portion of the group's meeting is not open to the public.
Prior to closing the meeting to the public, Scott told the six-member
committee that confidentiality was necessary to maintain the integrity
of the search. He said that names of the candidates should not
be discussed.
"If the candidate releases his name, that's his own business,"
he said.
Scott had with him two large boxes which he said included copies
of each candidate's application. He said each of the committee
members would receive a copy of each application.
He loaned each screening committee member a book entitled "The
Complete Reference Checking Handbook."
He told the members Vince Clark, Phyllis Orr, Kay Kirby,
Larry Duvall, Carol Harrison and Mike McConnell that comprehensive
background checks are the backbone of the screening process.
"The best idea of how a person will perform is by looking
at how they have performed in the past in similar circumstances,"
he said. "If that part of the search process is done well,
you will know you have good candidates. Through these background
checks you will know the person and what they are made of."
Although the screening committee has been asked to come up with
approximately five finalists whom the school board will interview,
the board may indeed choose to interview others not recommended
by the screening committee.
Scott said all applications will be turned over to the school
board on March 31. On April 4, the screening committee will meet
together with the board to discuss its recommendations.
After that the board will schedule interviews with finalists.
Scott said he has recommended that the school board disclose the
names of the finalists once all interviews have been scheduled.
The board has set aside April 8-15 to complete interviews.
According to the timeline established by the board, it will hire
a superintendent on or before April 25.
The screening committee will meet twice more in the coming days.
It is scheduled to convene at 4:30 p.m., Friday at the central
office and again at 4 p.m., Friday, March 25 at the same location.
Scott said he does not recommend that the screening committee
conduct interviews with candidates.