According to the terms of the contract between the Southampton County School Board and division superintendent Dr. Alvera J. Parrish, which expires on June 30 of 2016, both parties are required to state to the other their intent at least 180 days before the contract expires if either party plans not to renew the contract. In other words, by December 31, the school board is required to tell the superintendent if they do or do not plan to renew her contract. Conversely, the superintendent is required to tell the school board by December 31 if she does or does not want her contract renewed. It is standard operating procedure for contracts of this nature.

However, after the school board met in closed session Monday night prior to the open meeting that immediately followed, Dr. Parrish stated that the board did not take a vote on her contract nor had she indicated to the board that she planned to resign.

Hmmm…

With only 13 days remaining until the notice of intent deadline arrives, and no other board meetings scheduled between now and then, Southampton County residents are left to wonder what is going on with regard to the leadership of its school system. There are only two options, really. Either the school board was unaware of or unwilling to act prior to the contractually stipulated deadline, or the superintendent was not forthcoming about what took place during the closed session.

Whichever winds up being true will be an unfortunate turn of events, and we are not sure which is the lesser of two evils.