NEWBERG, Ore. (KGW) — A bitterly divided Newberg school board, which has been enveloped in controversy for the past few months over its decision to pass a policy limiting the kinds of images or signs school employees can display on campus, voted to fire Superintendent Joe Morelock near the conclusion of a late-night board meeting Tuesday.
The vote came after a charged conversation in which three board members strongly objected to the resolution to fire Morelock.
The resolution outlining the no-cause firing was not included in the board packet for Tuesday’s meeting. The board’s four conservative members, David Brown, Brian Shannon, Renee Powell and Trevor DeHart, voted at the start of Tuesday’s board meeting to add the resolution to the agenda.
At the end of the meeting, the resolution to fire Morelock passed, 4-3, with Brown, Shannon, Powell and DeHart voting in favor. After voicing strong objection to the move, the board’s other three members, Rebecca Piros, Brandy Penner and Ines Peña, voted against.
Morelock has been the superintendent of Newberg School District since July 2018. The firing is effective Nov. 19 and according to board member Brandy Penner, the district will continue to pay Morelock his salary and benefits for the next 12 months, in addition to paying the salary and benefits for the district’s next superintendent.
“We will be paying for two superintendents,” Penner said during the meeting.
The Oregonian confirmed that the district will pay Morelock $175,000 over the next 12 months, cover his health insurance and pay $5,000 into an annuity on his behalf. The Oregonian cited Morelock’s contract, which the newspaper obtained through a public records request.
Before the resolution was brought forward, Penner, Piros and Pena attempted to stop it and adjourn the meeting. Penner and Piros said the packet outlining the resolution to fire Morelock was not provided to board members until the executive meeting, hours before the board meeting, and so there was insufficient time to review the motion. But the motion to adjourn the meeting was voted down, 4-3, with Brown, Shannon, Powell and DeHart voting to move forward.
Penner and Piros spoke out against the resolution and the board’s four members who were in support of it. They expressed their support for Morelock, saying he guided the school district through a financial crisis and rebuilt relationships in the community.
“I’m baffled why you feel this needed to be done and why you feel it needed to be done tonight,” Piros said. “I feel you’ve just jammed this through and insisted upon it… I feel like this has been on your agenda since Day 1, since the two new board members were voted on. We’re going to lose so much from this action.”
Penner said the move to fire Morelock would have “rippling effects for months and years to come.”
“And I doubt that all four of you will even be here when the rebuilding really starts to happen,” she said. “This is going to set our district back decades. … This has been the shadiest, shadiest process ever and unfortunately, it is our children who will have to pay for this. They will be losing resources out of their classrooms. And those are my kids. Those are my kids’ classrooms that you are taking money from.”
Following the vote, Piros spoke again, addressing the four board members who voted to fire Morelock.
“I protest that none of you had anything to say about why you wanted to do this, that the public is … ,” Piros said before she was interrupted by Brown.
“It’s over. It’s done, Rebecca,” he said.
Penner responded: “You know exactly why, Rebecca. Because they’re cowards and they know they’re going to get sued. You know exactly why,” she said.
Penner then asked Brown to adjourn the meeting, despite there being more items on the agenda, saying, “I don’t think anything constructive will happen with this board again.”
Piros concluded the meeting by addressing Morelock.
“Dr. Morelock, we know you and we trust you and this pains us terribly,” she said. “Know that your integrity has spurred us to be faithful servers to our children and we wish you well. We’re so sorry. We are very disappointed in this decision.”
Morelock, who was silent up to that point during the discussion of the resolution, answered.
“Just remember that from the darkest dark comes the brightest light. Everything will work out eventually OK,” he said.
“You’re a bigger man than I am,” Piros said and started to cry, as Penner put her hand over her mouth.
In a statement sent after the meeting, the Superintendent Cabinet of Newberg Public Schools said it is “shocked and dismayed that the Board would take this disruptive action in the middle of the school year.”
Read more about the controversy surrounding Newberg Public Schools at KGW.com.
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