ANDERSON — The Anderson Community Schools board approved the termination of Albert Young, but his attorney said the issue is heading to court.

At a special meeting Monday that lasted only a few minutes, the board voted in favor of the recommendation read by Superintendent Mikella Lowe to dissolve Young’s contract as assistant principal at Highland High School.

Young, who has been on administrative leave for almost two months, attended the meeting but left without giving comment.

Five school board members voted one by one in favor of the termination. Board President Tobi Jones did not vote. She said when the board votes in a roll-call style, which it does on important matters, the president only adds her vote in the event of a tie.

Jones and other board members deferred comments on the termination to Ronald Cross, the attorney who acted as special counsel to the school board during Young’s termination hearing Thursday.

Cross said the board heard testimony from seven or eight people in favor of termination and from three people supporting Young. He did not recommend a decision to the board but was available to answer legal questions, he said.

Reached on the phone Monday evening, Young’s attorney, Jeff Lockwood, called the school district’s handling of the dispute a “witch hunt that ended in a mock trial.”

The school corporation had no legal grounds to fire Young, he said, and he plans to file a wrongful termination lawsuit.

“This is not the end of this fight,” Lockwood said.

Young has not worked at the high school since May 9, a day after a Highland special education teacher filed a request for a protective order claiming Young stalked her by calling her cell phone repeatedly and confronting her in front of students about starting a relationship.

The teacher, whom The Herald Bulletin is not naming because she is a potential victim, dropped her charge June 4 before a scheduled court hearing could take place.

The teacher, who is married, denied having any relationship with Young, but Lockwood said details of the two’s relationship would come out in court.

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