Aaron Cornman has resigned as superintendent of the Hillsboro R-3 School District and will be paid about $115,000 as part of his separation agreement with the district.
R-3 assistant superintendents Melissa Hildebrand and Jon Isaacson will lead the district over the next year as the board searches for a new superintendent, board president Lisa Welker said.
Cornman, 44, of Hillsboro had been the district’s superintendent since July 2013, and his contract was scheduled to expire at the end of next school year. However, his resignation was effective July 19 – the same night the Board of Education held a closed meeting and approved the separation agreement.
“He no longer works for the district as of tonight,” Welker said following that meeting. “We voted to accept a separation agreement involving his resignation. The vote was 7-0.”
Cornman did not respond to a request for comment left on his voicemail, and Welker would not comment further about Cornman’s departure.
For the last two years, however, board members did not extend Cornman’s contract by a year, which is common practice at school districts around the region.
After Cornman’s initial three-year contract, the board gave him one-year extensions each year from 2014-2016, but not in 2017 and 2018. His annual salary for the 2018-2019 school year, which began July 1, had been set at $141,400.
Board members and school officials declined to release the terms of the separation agreement until the Leader submitted a Sunshine Law request on July 24 and obtained the information. The following terms were included in the agreement.
■ It called for Cornman to submit a letter of resignation.
■ The parties agreed and acknowledged the district had inadvertently overpaid Cornman by about $5,997 for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. It further stated that the exact amount of the overpayment could not be determined until after the signing of the agreement when a final amount would be determined and deducted from the amount the district would pay Cornman as part of the separation agreement.
■ The district would pay Cornman on or before July 31 the sum of $120,000, minus the overpayment specified above.
■ The district also would pay Cornman $1,500 for 30 unused sick days per Board of Education policy.
■ The district would pay the health, dental and vision insurance premiums under the district’s group plans to provide coverage for Cornman and his children from July 2018 through June 30, 2019.
■ Cornman relinquished all claims against the district and agreed not to sue the district.
■ Any inquiries from prospective employers regarding Cornman are to be “solely” directed to Welker or whoever is the board president at the time.
■ Cornman will not seek or accept employment with the district in the future.
MSBA chosen as
superintendent search firm
Welker said the school board hopes to hire a new superintendent by January or February and then have the person start the job on July 1, 2019.
In the meantime, board members are confident Hildebrand and Isaacson can successfully lead the district until a new superintendent is on board, Welker said.
“Jon Isaacson and Melissa Hildebrand will be sharing the responsibilities,” she said. “We’re very comfortable to have them stepping into the role.”
During the regular meeting on July 19, the board voted 6-1 to hire Brent Underwood of the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) to conduct the superintendent search and pay him 8 percent of the new superintendent’s first-year salary, plus expenses related to the search.
School board member Jon Schuessler cast the dissenting vote, arguing that the board could handle the search itself.
“I still object,” Schuessler said during the board discussion. “I still feel we can do this on our own.”
The others disagreed, stating that the board could use a firm’s help to find a superintendent.
“None of us have ever done this before,” Welker said.
On July 11, the board held a special meeting to hear presentations from Underwood, as well as from Chris Nicastro of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, about the services they could offer the district for its superintendent search.
Cornman was still the district superintendent at that time but “was not required to come to the meeting,” board member Beth Petry said.
He did not attend the meeting.
The board has scheduled a special meeting for 6 p.m. Aug. 8 to discuss the superintendent search and would like to hear from the community about what they want to see in the next superintendent, Welker said.
“We will be asking for the community, parents and staff’s opinions in helping us along the way,” she said. “It’s going to be a work in progress for a while.”