School Board Terminates Superintendent
April 1, 2013
Sharyl Allen has been let go as Superintendent of the Grand Canyon School District. The Board voted on March 27th to terminate her. This follows a petition that was circulated expressing a statement of no confidence against Allen who has been in public education for more than 30 years. The School Board has issued this message to parents the day after Allen was let go:
Good morning GCS parents and family members,
As many may have already heard, the governing board voted to terminate the superintendent's contract pursuant to §IV (b) of the contract yesterday morning. This sections allows for a no fault termination of the contract and the decision was effective immediately. These type of decisions are never easy and the board did not take this responsibility lightly. I want to make it clear that the board did not fire the Superintendent. We terminated the contract between the district and Ms. Allen. The board has decided to move in a different direction and we began that move yesterday morning.
I know that this decision may have created a feeling of uncertainty of the school's future for many of you and the district is hoping to make this transition as smooth as possible. We approved Mike Aylstock as the interim superintendent through June 28, 2013, while we perform an executive search for a new superintendent. He is a retired superintendent from Blue Ridge USD and an instructor with NAU College of Education. He will be on campus two days a week and available by phone when needed. He is being tasked with running the district, particularly helping us through the annual budget process.
As we move through the process of the executive search, we will keep the staff and public informed of the progress. We plan to continue the district's practice of soliciting staff and public comment on potential candidates. We will provide guidance once we are closer to this step.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me via email. My school email is kmorris@grandcanyonschool.org.
Thank you,
Katie Morris
Board President
Grand Canyon USD Governing Board
