Webb walks out

PEA RIDGE — After a string of executive sessions Saturday held in an effort to hire a school superintendent, board member Rick Webb walked out of the room and left the building.

As he walked to his car, he responded to a question by The Times by saying: “I have to go.”

Webb did not attend the Sunday afternoon School Board meeting, held both in open and executive session to consider the contract for Dr. Michael Murphy.

The board agreed on salary and contract terms, which were offered to Murphy who accepted and said he would sign after tendering his resignation to his board Monday night.

Contacted by phone Monday, Webb said his leaving was for personal reasons and he was too busy to talk, then hung up.

After hearing the results of the committee’s interviewsSaturday, the board went into executive session to determine the top candidate. When the board returned to open session to offer the superintendent job to Murphy, the result was a three-to-two vote, with Webb and Darin Wright voting against the offer. After search advisor Dr. Paul Hewitt explained to the board that it would be unlikely that a good candidatewould accept a job offer with such a vote, the board retired into executive session again.

Hewitt explained that superintendents’ jobs are not protected by the Fair Teacher Dismissal Act and may be fired with a majority vote of a board, so candidates prefer a unanimous show of support to accept a position.

The board returnedto executive session.

Twenty minutes later, Webb left.

Saturday, questioned in the parking lot, Webb, who had told the board during the regular meeting Feb. 13 that he could not take off work Friday for interviews and he could not be back in Pea Ridge before 6 p.m., admitted he had been off work and in town Thursday, his regularlyscheduled day off. When asked why he didn’t take off Friday, Webb said: “I didn’t want to ... guess you can put that in the paper, Rick Webb is a bad guy.”

The board reconvened in open session and voted four to zero to offer Murphy the position.

They authorized Hewitt to call and begin negotiations to offer Murphy the job.