Knoxville School Board President Dave Smith faced some backlash from a fellow board member at Monday’s Knoxville School Board meeting regarding alleged unethical behavior surrounding Facilities Director Troy Pearson. 

Knoxville Community School District Facilities Director and Head Varsity Boys Basketball Coach Troy Pearson’s resignation letters were included in Monday night’s school board consent agenda. In those resignation letters, Pearson stated that Board President Dave Smith informed him that his current contract would not be renewed. At the start of Monday’s board meeting, School Board Vice President Monica Sullivan shared that Smith acted alone by informing Pearson of this and did not include any other board members before making this decision. Sullivan claims that Smith’s actions have broken code of ethics violations and his behavior could be detrimental to the district due to not following board policies and statutes. Sullivan fears that Smith has put the board in a position where they could face legal action.

“It opens up the board to legal action. We need to be very careful to follow our own policies and make sure we are acting in accordance with the statutes that are laid out for us as board members. To step outside of that really opens us up to some legal action.” 

Northstar Elementary Teacher Jill Mathes shared her concerns regarding how Smith has treated personnel within the district and how it could affect future employment. 

“When we treat district personnel in this manner it is going to make it increasingly less likely for us to have qualified applicants in our positions. If you aren’t aware you should be, but it is harder and harder to fulfill the roles in our schools because people are not going into this field.”

Smith said  at the meeting his reason for informing Pearson that his contract would not be renewed was that he was giving Pearson his opinion. Pearson’s last day with the district will be March 1st. Also at the meeting were several public comments made regarding the need for the district to continue keeping Tyler Pearson in the role as College Career Readiness Coordinator due to the success students have had through this position. The board then approved the snow make up recommendation, a dance team overnight trip, continuation of current 28E agreements, and a change in policy regarding artificial intelligence.