Westminster : Schools Superintendent to Take 6-Month Leave

Westminster School District Supt. Barney Davis will take a six-month paid leave of absence beginning in September, school board members announced Thursday night.

School board President Nancy Blumenthal would not disclose what led to the leave of absence, and Davis was not available for comment.

“It’s just a mutual agreement between the board and the superintendent,” she said.

In January, the board voted 3 to 1--with Blumenthal absent that day--to extend Davis’ three-year contract one year, until August of 1990, she said.

Davis will remain in his post until August. He will take a month of vacation time he has accrued, and his leave will officially begin Sept. 1 and end in March, 1990. The board will decide at its next board meeting whether to hire an outside executive search firm to find a replacement for him, she said.

The district, beset with financial problems, launched an unsuccessful ballot measure in March that would have imposed an additional property tax of as much as $100 on residential parcels to renovate school buildings and restore educational programs cut by budget shortages.

It was defeated by a nearly 3-1 margin, but Blumenthal said the election had nothing to do with Davis’ leave.

“Mr. Davis worked very hard on that tax election,” she said. “We appreciate the work he did on that election. The election and our mutual decision (that he take a leave of absence) really had no bearing on each other.