Questions Surround State Superintendent Job

The State Board of Education did not discuss State Superintendent Michael Sentance’s contract Wednesday as planned.  Their special called meeting was cancelled after Governor Ivey’s legal team questioned the legality of the meeting.

The Board did still hold a work session and afterwards Vice President Stephanie Bell took questions from reporters about the State Superintendent.

“That was something that was requested by a board member and since this is a special called meeting I added it to the agenda,” she said of the decision to put the discussion of the contract on the agenda.

She says that was requested by board member Jeffrey Newman, who did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.  Later, Newman said over the phone he believes the contract will be brought up at an upcoming meeting.  He added it’s something many board members want to discuss.

As for Sentance, he says he’s still enthusiastic about getting the job done and he’s working to improve his job performance.  In the meantime he hopes this doesn’t become a distraction from other issues at hand.

“I want to focus on the things that matter, and the things that matter are public education programs for the students and I focus on that everyday,” he shared.