On Jan. 31, 2023, Mahomet-Seymour Board President Max McComb wrote an opinion piece for the News-Gazette in rebuttal to what board member Meghan Hennesy said at the Jan. 17, 2023, regularly scheduled board of education meeting. The following are just excerpts from those pieces. Hennesy’s speech (Jan. 17) can be found here. McComb’s opinion piece (Jan. 31) can be found here.
This project is not an attempt to look at every issue that was brought up in its entirety. This publication has reported on some of these issues before. In those cases, links are provided so that each reader can learn more about the issue. The articles that follow are an attempt to look at the claims each board member brought up. In some cases, one board member named others. In those cases, this publication looked at what happened surrounding those claims. All of the articles can be found on this page. Each article also includes documents and videos referenced.
We understand that this piece comes two months after these events took place. We have taken time to watch discussions of every topic over the last three years, to look at board agendas and minutes from the same time period, to read emails, to send FOIA requests, and to undertake a major project in analyzing TIF data. This work took time, and that is why it took so long to complete.
McComb Quote
“For the record, Mrs. Hennesy also expressed constant dislike for our previous chief financial officer and our previous superintendent, then also attempted to block their resignations after she helped drive them out.”
When talking about curriculum, McComb also wrote: “[Hennesy] spent four years complaining about our assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum, and then tried to block her when she recently resigned.”
Max McComb
Looking Back
Board discussion about the resignation of Chief Business Officer Trent Nuxoll, Superintendent Lindsey Hall, and Assistant Superintendent Nicole Rummel happened on Feb. 18, 2020, Dec. 6, 2021, and Jan. 17, 2023, respectively.
Hennesy asked that Rummel’s resignation be pulled from the consent agenda on Jan. 17, 2023. She stated that Rummel signed a three-year contract with the district which stipulates that a resignation outside of the final contract date (June 2024, in this case) must be agreed upon between both parties: the board and Rummel.
For Hennesy, the process by which contracts are made or terminated is the issue.
The contracts established with Rummel, Hall and Nuxoll stated the same: both parties must mutually agree upon the employment termination in writing if a termination happens prior to the closing date. In Rummel’s case, the board (or at least not the entire board) had not discussed the resignation and how it would affect the district prior to the Jan. 17 board meeting. Hennesy felt that the resignation warranted discussion, likely in closed session.
Other board members (McMurry, McComb and Lamb) believed that Rummel’s letter was sufficient and the vote signaled the board’s agreeance.
Rummel submitted her resignation to the board a month after taking a position in Bloomington District 87. Hennesy voted “present”, a vote that is neither for nor against a measure.
In fact, Hennesy has on voted “present” or “yes” when asked about an administrator’s resignation.
Nuxoll established a three-year contract with the Mahomet-Seymour School District in 2019 before submitting his resignation in 2020.
Termination of the contract could have happened in several ways, including, but not limited to a mutual agreement by the board and the administrator in writing or by a unilateral termination by the administrator in which the administrator must provide a minimum of ninety (90) days written notice to the Board.
Additionally, per the contract, at the discretion of the Board, any unilateral termination of the agreement by the Administrator without Board consent, between Aug 1 and June 1 of any contract year, required the Administrator to pay liquidated damages to the district up to the lesser of the actual cost of finding a replacement for the Administrator or 10-percent of the Administrators salary.
In the Feb. 18 board meeting Hennesy voted “present” in a motion to accept Nuxoll’s resignation. Prior to the vote, she voiced support for Nuxoll but asked to talk about the language of the contract in a closed session prior to taking a vote. The board did not go into closed session.
As Hall’s resignation and retirement were discussed on Dec. 6, 2021, Hennesy wished her well and voted “yes” to accept the resignation. The board went into a closed session prior to the vote.
It is no secret that Hennesy oftentimes questioned the three Mahomet-Seymour employees, both as a board member and a community member before getting elected in 2019. McComb’s statement suggesting dissent means that she disliked the employees or tried to keep them from moving on is unfounded.
Instead, she asked the board to consider the value or validity of multi-year contracts, following contracts, and holding the terms of a contract.
