Willow Run superintendent’s absence from accident

By Dan DuChene
Nov. 3, 2009    ·    1:08 p.m.

Harold Wimberly, former vice president for the Willow Run Board of Education, said the district’s superintendent would be absent because of a “terrible accident.”

Wimberly, who resigned from in early October, told the Citizen the extended absence the board had announced it was anticipating for Superintendent Doris Hope-Jackson was because she is on bed rest from a car accident last month. He said she had been hospitalized, but was now home recovering from her injuries.

The comments were made while Wimberly was discussing the contents of his resignation letter with the Citizen Monday evening.

At a cancelled emergency meeting called by the board Wednesday, Board President Sheri Washington explained the proposed discussion of appointing an acting superintendent for the district was due to an anticipated, but unexplained absence on Jackson’s part.

Both Washington and Board Secretary Mark Wilde said Jackson’s absence has been intermittent since the beginning of the school year. They said the board had been made aware that her absences would become more continuous and last longer. Neither board member would elaborate on the cause of Jackson’s absence.

Monday, Wimberly said he had not heard any discussion of an attendance problem with Jackson before her accident. He said the board should have informed the community about the circumstances surrounding the unexplained actions it was taking, so people wouldn’t “fill in gaps with assumptions.”

The Willow Run Board will be meeting tonight in a second attempt to hold the meeting it cancelled Wednesday. Starting at 5 p.m., with a closed executive session to discuss attorney-privilege, the board will discuss filling Wimberly’s vacant board seat and appointing an acting superintendent.

Unlike the agenda for Wednesday’s canceled meeting, tonight’s agenda allots time for audience participation. The new agenda also explains the resignation the board will be considering, as Wednesday’s agenda listed a resignation without specifying the individual leaving the district. Board members also wouldn’t comment on the matter.

Calls made to Washington were not immediately returned.

An e-mail sent to Jackson was returned with an automated response that read, “Dr. Jackson sustained injuries in a serious car accident. Email will be answered once physician restrictions have been removed. Thank you for your understanding.”

Stay with the Citizen for an update on tonight’s meeting, and for the comments made by Wimberly on his resignation.

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