Midlands school superintendent paid $240K to step down, will cooperate in ‘any litigation’
The former superintendent of a Midlands school district will be paid nearly a quarter-million dollars by the district to end his contract nearly a year early.
A settlement agreement between Lexington 2 and Superintendent Nicholas Wade, provided to The State, requires the district to pay Wade $240,000 as part of his resignation from the top job at the end of the 2021-22 school year. The money will be paid out in 24 monthly installments beginning in July.
The district will also pay Wade’s attorney’s fees to the tune of $10,000, according to the settlement.
As part of the settlement, Wade agrees to “unconditionally release, acquit and discharge forever” any claims against the district, and the district will drop any claim it may have against him.
Wade also agrees “to cooperate with the Board and District regarding any litigation arising from events occurring during his tenure as superintendent.” The district agrees to reimburse the former superintendent for any costs he incurs for his cooperation, such as travel to and from the district.
Wade had only been on the job in the Cayce-West Columbia school district for a year, after being hired as the “superintendent-elect” to replace outgoing superintendent Bill James ahead of the 2020-21 school year. Wade still had a full year to go on his contract, which paid him an annual base salary of $180,000, when he suddenly resigned from Lexington 2 last month.
The Lexington 2 school board called a special meeting May 11 — one day after a scheduled meeting — to approve Wade’s resignation and name former superintendent Barry Bolen as an interim replacement. No reason was given at the time for Wade’s departure, and the agreement between Wade and the board said Wade would use his accumulated leave and sick time to be off the job between May 13 and June 30, when his resignation takes effect.
On June 2, the school board hired a permanent replacement as superintendent. Brenda Hafner, currently the chief of schools in Sumter County, will take over in Lexington 2 beginning July 1.
It subsequently emerged that grades issued to Lexington 2 graduating seniors in 2021 and 2022 were being audited after the S.C. Department of Education flagged a case where the department believed a graduating student had not earned enough course credit to be issued a diploma. The student in that case had received failing grades in four required courses, but had been approved for graduation after a brief time in a summer course, the department found.
There’s no indication that Wade’s resignation is related to the Department of Education’s audit.
The settlement between Wade and the school board requires both parties to not make any “negative or disparaging statements” about each other, and anyone who breaches that clause would be required to pay $20,000 to the other party. The agreement also requires School Board Chair Christina Rucker to write a letter of recommendation for Wade.
Similar language was included in a settlement reached between former Superintendent Christina Melton and the Lexington-Richland 5 school board last year, when Melton agreed to resign and accept a $226,000 payout to end her contract early. That agreement was criticized because it was not revealed or approved publicly before Melton’s resignation, leading to questions about whether it had been legally adopted.
After The State Media Co. sued to challenge the board’s handling of Melton’s severance agreement in private, the board approved it in a public vote.
This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
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