At the regularly scheduled September 27 Mineral County School District Board of Trustees meeting, the Board had an item on the agenda to discuss an issue that involved the character and alleged misconduct of Superintendent Andre Ponder in a closed session as well as give an evaluation about his performance with the district in the past year.

However, earlier that day Mr. Ponder sent his written resignation to the board president and reiterated his decision that evening at the board meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, he gave his written 30-day notice of resignation to the board and asked that they table the following items related to his evaluation.

The meeting then launched into a discussion about the superintendent’s report on compliance with Individual Education Plans before talking about tabling the rest of the action items on the meeting’s agenda. The board ultimately agreed to accept Mr. Ponder’s resignation.

During public comment at the September 27 meeting, several people got up and spoke, getting emotional when talking about lack of culpability the administration seems to have when fixing issues that inhibit providing the best education for their kids.

One resident said, “There’s a huge accountability issue within this district, and it starts at the top and goes all the way down. I’m very disappointed that the board did not follow through with items two, three, and four tonight and move forward with the termination rather than allowing him to stick around for another 30 days and have our staff fear retribution. You guys have to start holding the superintendents accountable for what happens. This is a leadership issue, it’s a dishonesty issue, and you guys are refusing to follow through and hold him accountable again.”

Another said, “You can’t hold Mr. Ponder accountable for everything; the board has got to follow up on what the Superintendent is doing. This district is going off the rails, plus the five years that the last superintendent didn’t follow up with things. There are lawsuits, they’re paying people who don’t come to work. You’ve got to protect your teachers and these kids. You guys have got to as a board follow up on who you’re hiring, what they’re doing, and keep them in check and help them be accountable for their situations.”

A few teachers/staff spoke out about how they felt diminished under Ponder’s leadership, in which Trustee Juanita Diede commented that she did not want to accept his resignation and would rather go through the process of terminating him.

In another public comment session, a gentleman said, “I want to reiterate, I’m disappointed in the board today to table these items again. Regardless of what the DA has to say, the public has spoken. You work for us. It’s not the other way around. And I think that in this county this seems to happen more and more often- people that are elected into these positions believe that they have all the power in the world. And quite frankly, you’re wrong if that’s what you think, not saying that you do. This entire room wants action to be done on this… again, you work for us; we elected you into these positions. And yet again, this school district is going to do what they’ve done for many years in the past, which is to avoid what the public has to say and do what you, as the board, feel that is best. And not use public comment to sway your decisions one way or another.”

At the conclusion of the September 27 meeting, another was scheduled on October 5 to discuss these items:

• Recommendation: Discussion and possible action relative to the resignation of Superintendent Andre Ponder, the appointment of an interim superintendent, and setting a salary range for the position of Interim Superintendent.

• Recommendation: Discussion and possible action relative to the following:

• A recruitment plan for the position of Superintendent,

• Expenditures for the recruitment,

• Recruiting criteria, and

• Job description and setting a salary range for the position of Superintendent.

• Grievance 83022: Discussion and possible action relative to the presentation of Superintendent’s decision on grievance 83022, presentation of the grievant’s position, and action by the Board to including but not limited to sustaining or overturning the Superintendent’s decision and taking the resulting action.

• Grievance 82922: Discussion and possible action relative to the presentation of Superintendent’s decision on grievance 92922, presentation of the grievant’s position, and action by the Board to including but not limited to sustaining or overturning the Superintendent’s decision and taking the resulting action.

MCSD Board of Trustees meetings are held at the Arlo K. Funk District Services Center on 751 A Street. Its next meeting will be held on October 18. For more information about the Mineral County School District, visit https://nvmcsd.org/.