Nearly two weeks after the Bettendorf School Board agreed behind closed doors to a settlement to obtain Supt. Michelle Morse's resignation, Board President Paul Castro has yet to turn over the agreement for public dissemination.
"I'm waiting for (Paul) Castro to give it to me," Communications Director Celeste Miller said Tuesday afternoon when asked about the settlement document by Bettendorf.com."I don't have a copy of it yet."
When asked if Bettendorf.com should contact Castro directly to obtain a copy of the settlement, Miller said she would once again reach out to him to try to get the document.
The board publicly announced Supt. Morse "was transitioning" out of her job as superintendent July 1. Asked what "transitioning" meant, Miller said it was a resignation under terms of the settlement agreement with the board.
Without a copy of the settlement agreement, it cannot be known if, or how much, the school district paid Morse in order to obtain her resignation.
While the board has yet to publicly state the cost or reasons for the settlement agreement and Morse's resignation, it already approved hiring an "interim" superintendent at its Tuesday, July 13 meeting.
As with the settlement agreement, the board has refused to state publicly how much the district would pay the new superintendent, John Elkin.
Elkin is the current chief of staff and deputy to Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow.
He is a Bettendorf High graduate with past experience as a superintendent in the Centerpoint-Urbana School District, a district of about 1,400 students north of Cedar Rapids.
He does not hold a doctorate in education that superintendents of most large districts possess. Elkin has a two-year certificate of superintendency from the University of Northern Iowa.
