Hearing officer appointed by school district

Superintendent gets salary hike of 4 percent


A hearing is expected within a month on whether the Port Aransas ISD violated the rights of a student by not providing proper facilities.

The student’s parents filed a complaint under a federal law requiring schools, among other entities, not to discriminate against handicapped people. The law is under the Department of Labor’s civil rights code.

School board President Chuck Borders said the board appointed a hearing officer at its special meeting on Thursday, Jan. 7. The officer will preside over the hearing to decide whether the district is in violation; if it is, he will order the district to correct the problem.

If there is no violation, the plaintiffs’ recourse is to file a civil suit in U.S. district court, Borders said.

He said he expects a result from the hearing within the month. It will not be public because it involves a student, Borders said.

The board also raised Dr. Sharon Doughty’s salary by 4 percent – the same percentage other school administrators got – in an executive session to evaluate her performance after a year as superintendent.

The raise brings Doughty’s pay up to $111,280 a year.

Doughty’s current contract runs through June, 2012. That’s unusual, Borders said, because most superintendents’ contracts run three years instead of 3 ½ years.

When the board takes up the contract question, it will probably adjust the next contract to three years, he said.


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