(Memphis) Shelby County School Board member Kevin woods is surprised by Dr. Kriner Cash’s resignation and the severance package he and the school attorney put together.
“Him taking the lead on it with our attorney I think helped make the transition a smooth one,” said Woods.
The school board unanimously voted to approve Cash’s severance package.
That means Cash will keep getting paid his nearly $300,000 a year salary until July and get an additional $17,000 for moving expenses.
Woods says for the next six months in addition to his full salary Dr. Cash will get all the benefits he received as a full-time employee.
Those benefits include medical benefits and his housing allowance.
Dr. Jeffrey Warren is one of the board members who hired Cash and says it was important for the board to meet Cash’s demands because he could have asked for a lot more.
“This is a very good way to amicably allow Dr. Cash to leave while still providing us with some help and honoring the contract that we gave him,” said Dr. Warren.
Warren says if the board hadn’t agreed Cash could have sued them because his contract says if his position is eliminated, as it was when the schools merged last summer, Cash was owed a year’s salary.
Warren said millions of tax payer dollars are already being spent on lawyer fees over the unified schools, and the severance deal is worth one less lawsuit.
Woods and Warren both agree this is a chance to move past the politics on Cash’s place in the new district and focus on planning for schools.
