LUMBERTON — Some members of the Board of Education for the Public Schools of Robeson County want to fire Superintendent Shanita Wooten at tonight’s monthly meeting, but it’s unclear if they have enough votes.
The Robesonian has heard that from multiple sources.
The meeting is at the system’s central office on Kahn Drive and begins at 6 p.m. The Robesonian plans to stream it live on Facebook.
Wooten was named interim superintendent on Jan. 10, 2017, when the board voted 6-5 to fire Tommy Lowry, a move that caught the public and some board members off guard, coming just months after Hurricane Matthew. The board took the interim label off in August of that year when a searched failed to yield an external candidate. Wooten’s contract is through June 30, 2021.
Wooten was an assistant superintendent before being named interim.
She has a doctorate and a master’s degree in the field of education from Wingate University, coupled with an educational specialist degree at Wingate. Wooten also holds a master’s degree in school administration from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and a master’s of public health in community health education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She earned a bachelor’s of science in Biology from North Carolina A&T.
The Robesonian has been told that some board members are upset because of an alleged meeting that Wooten had with Gerome Chavis, the face of the We the People movement, and Lacy Cummings, a past candidate for county commissioner who plans to run again, and Patrick Dial, a former cafeteria manager in the system.
The Robesonian spoke with Dial and was continuing reporting on the story, including speaking with Chavis, Cummings and Wooten. Dial told The Robesonian he was promised a promotion during the meeting if he would “stay out” of Cummings’ race for county commissioner, and if he would get his wife, Faline Dial, who is a county commissioner, to vote as instructed.
Dial told The Robesonian he would not agree to the conditions, and he resigned from the school system in August.
Wooten also was at odds with some board members when she came up with a plan to reduce the workforce as a way to deal with a $2 million shortfall. The board eventually decided to do that through attrition, the closing of four schools, and consolidation.
There is also a question about the District 1 seat on the board and Loistine DeFreece’s ability to hold it. DeFreece was last elected to the board in 2016, but reportedly has not lived in the district since soon after Hurricane Matthew because of damage to her former home. The Robesonian has seen the board’s policy, which requires a person to live inside the district, and is working on a story on that as well.
The Robesonian will update this story as information warrants.
