A recording of a telephone call in which the attorney for the Columbus Municipal School District said then-school superintendent Philip Hickman threatened a board member with a lawsuit if the board member didn’t vote to extend Hickman’s employment contract highlighted Thursday’s opening day of Hickman’s termination hearing at Brandon Central Services.
The CMSD board of trustees fired Hickman on Feb. 23. Hickman requested a termination hearing, which began Thursday and resumed at 8 a.m. today. Starkville attorney Dolton McAlpin is conducting the hearing.
On Thursday, Jackson attorney John Hooks, who is representing the school board, called three witnesses — CMSD board president Jason Spears and board members Josie Shumake and Fredrick Sparks, all of whom were questioned about their decision to fire Hickman for the causes outlined in two termination letters. The board had previously voted not to extend Hickman’s contract past June 30.
The reasons for firing included misuse of district funds, unprofessional and disrespectful conduct directed toward the board and unnecessary delays in providing materials requested by the board.
But the biggest focused on a recorded telephone conversation between Hickman and Sparks, which was not listed on the initial termination letter but added in an amended version.
Sparks read the transcript of the conversation Thursday. Then, at the request of Hickman’s attorney, Jeff Rime of Jackson, the tape was played.
Sparks said Thursday he called Hickman and recorded the conversation on a phone app to verify a phone call he had with Hickman “a couple of months” earlier.
In that earlier conversation, Sparks testified, Hickman threatened that Sparks could be the subject of a lawsuit if he did not vote to extend Hickman’s employment contract.
According to Sparks, Hickman told him if he voted not to extend Hickman’s contract, both Hickman’s ex-wife and current wife would sue Sparks for denying their children (Hickman has children attending CMSD) the right to an education due to Sparks’ role in the departure of the teachers. Sparks said that Hickman told him he could be sued as an individual and that Sparks could be caught up in litigation the rest of his life because Hickman’s ex-wife is wealthy.
Sparks testified he called Hickman on May 8, 2017 — hours before the board voted 3-2 not to extend Hickman’s contract past June 30, 2018 — to confirm the threat, saying he wanted to record the conversation for his own protection in the event he was sued.
In the second conversation, Hickman seemed to tell Sparks he would not be sued if he voted to extend Hickman’s contract.
“I wanted to have a conversation with you before tonight’s meeting to kind of get the elephant out of the room before we talk tonight,” Sparks is heard saying in the recording. “A couple of months ago, when you talked to me about, you know, you (were) telling me about the lawsuit involving your ex-wife and your current wife about denying the kids’ right to an education …”
Hickman: “Yes.”
Sparks: “OK. Now here’s my question to you: Even if I vote to extend your contract, either way I vote, there’s no guarantee I won’t be sued, is there?”
Hickman: “Yes, there is.”
Later in the call, Hickman seemed to assure Sparks that Hickman’s wife and ex-wife would be willing to abandon the idea of suing Sparks, saying his wife and his ex-wife weren’t “going to dirty up the environment I’m trying to work in.”
Later that day, Sparks joined Spears and Shumake in voting against extending Hickman’s contract. Board members Currie Fisher and Angela Verdell voted in favor of the extension. Fisher was called to testify by Rime Thursday. Verdell is expected to testify today.
Sparks questioned about delayed response
Rime challenged Sparks’ testimony on several fronts, including his failure to notify the board of the taped conversation until 10 months later, after Sparks had voted for termination and the board had issued its initial termination letter.
“When you hung up the phone, did you believe in your heart of hearts, on May 8, did you believe (Hickman) was trying to coerce or bribe you into voting for him?” Rime asked.
“Yes,” Sparks said.
“Now if you felt coerced, threatened and you didn’t feel it was necessary to inform your fellow board members of what took place?” Rime asked.
“No sir,” Sparks said. “The reason for that being that the district already had a black cloud hanging over its head and we didn’t need to put anything else out there that was going to bring the district down.”
Rime pressed Sparks on that.
“Your board president wrote in the amended notice of termination that what Dr. Hickman did in that May 8 phone call was a violation of the law,” he said. “Do you believe that?”
“I don’t know the law in that manner,” Sparks said.
Rime then challenged whether the recorded phone call was evidence that Hickman had tried to coerce his client.
“He’s telling you you’re not going to be sued no matter how you vote,” Rime said. “You said, ‘either way I vote there’s not guarantee I won’t be sued, is there?’ And Dr. Hickman said, ‘Yes, there is.'”
“I disagree,” Sparks said.
Rime then noted that in earlier testimony, Sparks said Hickman’s conduct during a Jan. 26 board meeting where Hickman argued with board members in open session was the deciding factor in his vote to terminate Hickman’s contract.
“You felt so strongly about that that you waited until after you were so offended by his behavior in the Jan. 26 meeting to say anything about (the recording), correct?” Rime asked.
“Incorrect,” Sparks said. “I decided it would be within my rights to decide when I wanted to release (the recording). It was my hope and prayer that I would never have to do anything with it, that Dr. Hickman would just finish out his contract and everything would be fine.”
Misappropriations of funds
Earlier Thursday, Spears testified that reviews of Hickman’s CMSD-issued travel credit card revealed two instances of improper charges — a $40 charge for a roll-away bed in a hotel room and a $50.05 charge from a restaurant in Cupertino, California.
When asked about the roll-away bed, Hickman said the bed was used by his children who were traveling with him and that he did not realize the hotel charged for the bed, Spears said.
Spears said he did not recall if Hickman offered an explanation for the restaurant charge.
Whether a third expenditure, $15,000 paid to California-based ReputationDefender.com, was an appropriate expense has yet to be determined, Spears said, because the district had yet to acquire access to information from the company. Hickman previously told The Dispatch he contracted with the website to help generate more positive web search engine results for himself and CMSD.
Spears also testified that Hickman stalled providing travel credit card statements requested by the board, arousing his suspicions.
The hearing is expected to conclude today.
After the hearing is completed, McAlpin will prepare a report based on the hearing and submit it to the CMSD board, which will have 30 days to rule on whether the board was justified in firing Hickman.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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