Here’s how much LR5 spent on its lawsuit against former superintendent
The Lexington-Richland 5 school district spent almost $9,000 in a nearly year-long lawsuit against its former superintendent.
The school district spent $8,976.58 on a lawsuit against former superintendent Stephen Hefner after Hefner wrote to an accrediting agency to question how the district hired an interim superintendent, the district said in response to a Freedom of Information request.
The school board voted to drop the lawsuit in September without the case going to trial, although Hefner has continued to press a counterclaim against the school district.
The Lexington-Richland 5 school board filed suit last November, claiming Hefner had “interfered” in the management of the school district when he and other former district officials wrote a letter to Cognia asking for a review of the contract Lexington-Richland 5 had signed with its interim superintendent, Akil Ross. The letter was critical of the arrangement, in which the district contracted for “superintendent services” with Ross’s education consulting firm, HeartEd LLC, rather than hire Ross directly as a district employee.
In its suit, the school district called Hefner’s action “wrongful, malicious and politically motivated,” and claimed the letter contained “false information” that “implied wrongdoing” by Ross and the district. Ross was named the district’s permanent superintendent in December.
In voting to drop the lawsuit, the school board cited Cognia’s decision not to pursue any action against the school district.
A representative from Cognia told The State last November that the agency would not take action against the school district in response to Hefner’s complaint, saying it found “no grounds to justify further actions” according to its policies and procedures and the issue raised would not affect the district’s accreditation.
The board voted 4-3 two weeks later to move forward with the lawsuit, even as board members who opposed the lawsuit — Rebecca Blackburn Hines, Matt Hogan and Tifani Moore — argued the issue was moot because of Cognia’s decision. But the majority — Loveless, Nikki Gardner, Jan Hammond and Catherine Huddle — voted to move forward with the suit, with Loveless calling for a “formal apology” from Hefner.
The board voted again to proceed with the lawsuit, with the same vote breakdown, as recently as Aug. 8.
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