9:24 p.m. UPDATE: School board fires assistant principal

June 30, 2008 09:25 pm

— 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.


TIMELINE
1998 Young joins Carmel Clay Schools after having worked in the Lawrence Township school system.
2001 Young is found not guilty of battery and confinement, charges brought by a Lawrence teacher.
2004 Young joins Anderson Community Schools as an assistant principal at North Side Middle School.
2005 Young becomes assistant principal of Highland High School.
2008
May 8 A protective order is granted after a Highland teacher accuses Young of stalking her.
May 9 Young is placed on administrative leave.
June 4 The protective order against Young is dropped.
June 26 School district holds all-day termination hearing.
June 30 The school board votes in favor of Young’s termination.

What’s next
Jeff Lockwood, Albert Young’s attorney, said he plans to file a wrongful termination lawsuit soon.
ACS Superintendent Mikella Lowe said the process to name a new assistant principal at Highland High School will begin immediately.

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