Community ISD Superintendent Under Fire, Schools Ranked Worst In N. Texas
COLLIN COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) – The Community school board held an emergency meeting Wednesday night, most of it behind closed doors to discuss the fate of the district's superintendent.
At the time of this posting, the school board, which oversees nearly two-thousand students in Lavon, Nevada and other small northeastern Collin County towns, had already met in executive session for four hours to discuss possible termination of Superintendent Cole McClendon. McClendon signed a three-year contract at the beginning of the year. No one is saying publicly why McClendon's contract could be terminated. Sources tell CBS 11's JD Miles it involves allegations of sexual harassment.
Meanwhile, the district has been ranked the worst in North Texas, which has upset parents asking questions.
Nevada resident Gary Woods, who has children attending three of Community ISD's four schools, says he never knows how his kids are doing in class.
"I never see any grades papers. I never get any progress reports," he said.
Woods says he's told to look up his kids grades online but they usually aren't there.
"They want you to log in on this parent portal online. Sometimes you can log in, sometimes you can't."
Grades, however, can be easily found for Community ISD schools, and they are not good at all. The education group, Children at Risk, just ranked the Northeast Collin County school district as the worst in North Texas when it comes to student performance. School district officials say they are taking this study seriously and have already implemented changes that they believe improve student performance.
"You put your trust in the superintendent and hope they're making the right decisions for your children," said parent Mitzi Waters.
Waters says her son almost didn't graduate last year because teachers did not update his grades consistently.
"I had trouble with several of the teachers waiting until the last minute, and when that happens you only have a certain amount of time in order to order to make up the grades."