Sherman, school board agree to $100K settlement

RED OAK — After serving six years as Red Oak High School principal, Jedd Sherman has agreed to resign in exchange for $100,000.

The school board approved the settlement Monday night, about two weeks before a public hearing to determine if they were justified in previously terminating Sherman’s contract.

“The settlement itself is a blessing,” Sherman said Tuesday morning. “By fighting my termination, I know I got a settlement I would have been offered, ordinarily.”

As a result of the settlement, the scheduled July 2-3 hearing before an administrative law judge has been canceled. The resignation does not affect the status of complaints filed by Sherman and Don Rogerson accusing the school board of violating Iowa’s open meeting laws.

Sherman, whose annual salary was $87,500, said the settlement will give him time to find another job, ideally one in Red Oak.

“For sure, we are here next year and for sure, we are looking for a job so we can stay in Red Oak long term,” he said.

Sherman’s three children attend Red Oak schools, including his son Jared, who will be a senior this fall. His wife, Kara, is the executive director at the Wilson Performing Arts Center and both are active in the community through the Red Oak Rotary Club and their church.

Because of those ties to the community, Sherman hopes he and his family will be able to stay in Red Oak.

“We love Red Oak,” he said. “We don’t want to leave and won’t if I can find a job that allows us to stay here.”

At its May 5 meeting, the board voted 5-0 to terminate Sherman’s automatically renewing contract at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

The board provided Sherman five reasons for the termination, most of which came from evaluations conducted by Superintendent Terry Schmidt.

Sherman insisted those evaluations were incomplete and inaccurate and requested several times to discuss them with the board in a public meeting. However, the board declined.

Sherman and Rogerson filed separate complaints regarding an April meeting and the one in May in which Sherman was fired accusing the board of discussing those evaluations and Sherman’s job performance in closed session. Iowa law requires those meetings take place in an open meeting if requested by the employee.

The IPIB ruled at its meeting last week to accept the complaints and begin a formal investigation into the matter.

Sherman said he has no intentions of withdrawing his complaint with the IPIB and no part of the settlement required him to do so.