Court Upholds LR Principal`s Dismissal

The Arkansas Court of Appeals today rejected a former high school principal`s complaint that she should not have been laid off when the East End School District merged three schools into two. Angela Olsen had served as principal for East End High School in 1999-2000. Her contract was not renewed for the following year on the recommendation of East End Superintendent Douglas Adams. Adams said he told Olsen that he was recommending that the district reduce its number of schools from three to two for the next school year because of declining student enrollment. The merger would leave the district with three principals for two schools, and Olsen was the one most recently hired. Olsen said she had a "bumpy" relationship with Adams, sometimes over money, student discipline and who he hired as her secretary. The court ruled that Olsen failed to prove the East End district violated the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act. Posted by Mike Hellgren