Melissa Skinner

After weeks of uncertainty and scrutinized personnel decisions, Crook County School District and Superintendent Melissa Skinner will “mutually terminate” Skinner’s contract.

Parents and Crook County residents packed a special board meeting Monday night and applauded as the Crook County school board voted for the district to enter negotiations with Skinner to terminate her contract.

Skinner will be going on paid non-disciplinary administrative leave as she leaves the district. She first joined Crook County School District in July.

To more applause, the school board voted to name assistant superintendent Joel Hoff as the acting superintendent.

The board also voted to proceed with investigating a complaint against a board member. Funding for three of Skinner’s particular initiatives were paused after a vote. These were a career technical education class on phlebotomy, supplemental curriculum materials and attendance initiatives.

A community complaint petition against Skinner received support from both the classified and certified employee unions for Crook County School District. A majority of the local chapter of the Oregon School Employees Association supported the complaint, with a 97% in favor.

The complaint petition demanded Skinner’s termination and concerned Skinner’s hiring practices and management of district staff. These include the hiring of her husband Michael Skinner as principal of Grizzly Mountain Homelink, the district’s home schooling option, and the hiring of former board member Jessica Brumble as transportation manager .

The board voted to launch separate investigations to look into the fairness of the transportation manager’s hiring, and other concerns listed in the complaint against the board member.

Throughout December, the community rallied around Athletic Director Rob Bonner, whose position had come under Skinner’s scrutiny. At a Dec. 16 special board meeting, the board voted to request that the superintendent retain him in his role.

The complaint mentions Board Member Cheyenne Edgerly’s alleged “hit list” of employees she plans to terminate during her time on the board, of whom Bonner is one.

“Dr. Skinner’s actions to remove Mr. Bonner from his role, without cause, signals that she has taken direction from Board Member Edgerly, bringing further concern with regard to her ability to manage school district staff and grave concern that there is collusion and corruption among the ranks of leadership,” said the complaint.

The board will next meet Jan. 13.

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