Superintendent Wayne Gent
Caught off guard by Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Wayne Gent’s decision to apply for another job, school board members are pushing to investigate whether he violated his contract by failing to disclose his job search.
School board member Debra Robinson called Sunday for a discussion of “the status of the superintendent’s contract” in an email to school board staffers. Her request was approved by board Chairman Chuck Shaw and added to the agenda for Wednesday’s board meeting.
“I think the board should have a conversation,” Robinson wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Palm Beach Post.
Reached later Monday, Robinson said she was concerned about whether Gent had violated a provision in his contract when he applied this month for the superintendent position in St. Lucie County.
Gent’s contract requires that he “notify the Board in writing at the time he intends to apply for another position.”
Though Gent didn’t give notice that he had applied in St. Lucie, where the superintendent search is ongoing, he told board members a week earlier that he would step down from his position when his contract expires later this year.
“He has been candid, saying he was not retiring and that he would stay in education,” school district spokesman Alex Sanchez said.
For an updated version of this story, click here.
Here’s the provision in Gent’s contract:
