School Board to decide if principal will be rehired

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Lawyer: Banking transaction led to termination

By MELISSA M. SCALLAN

mmscallan@sunherald.com

The Moss Point School Board will meet Thursday to make a final decision on whether to rehire a former principal who was fired in June.

Tonya Jackson Hall was the principal at Kreole Elementary, and the district fired her for an incident involving a banking transaction at the school, said attorney Jim Keith, who is representing the district in this matter.

“When the superintendent conducted his investigation, he found she wasn’t being forthright about some things,” Keith said. “It’s an issue of integrity and honesty.”

Keith said that Hall testified at the hearing that she was fired because she rebuffed sexual advances by Superintendent Kim Staley.

“After she was terminated, that’s when she made the allegations of sexual harassment,” Keith said.

Hall appealed the district’s decision, and a hearing officer presided over the three-day meeting in September. Hall’s attorney, La Quetta Golden, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Keith and Golden presented the transcript from the hearing to the School Board last week. The board met Monday and will meet again Thursday.

“We will be meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, and the decision will be made regarding the employee,” Board President Charles Wesley said Tuesday. The board will announce its decision Friday.