The Argyle school board reinstated Superintendent Jason Ceyanes Monday evening, and Ceyanes said that as part of a settlement he will resign at noon today.

Jason Ceyanes

“I just feel it’s in the best interest of the district, the kids, me and my family,” said Ceyanes on Tuesday.

The school board voted to fire him in March and placed him on administrative leave until he had a chance to appeal.

After several legal delays in the process, Ceyanes had not yet had a public hearing on his appeal.

“Had this gone to hearing, we are absolute confident that we would have prevailed,” said Ceyanes.

The board did not have good cause to terminate, he said.

With the recent school board election, Ceyanes said, he respected the voice of the voters.

Three positions were open on the recent school board election, and the three incumbents to those positions had voted against him. Kent Bateman ousted one of those incumbents, Randy McKelllar, in the May 10 election. But the other two incumbents, Debbie Cantrell and John Schinske won re-election.

Although there was some change on the board as a result of the election, it was not enough, he said.

“I respect the decision of the community and will try to find a community that appreciates my leadership style and my core values,” said Ceyanes.

The bottomline, Ceyanes said, is that he could have spent the next several months in litigation and even if the hearing examiner went against the board’s proposal to terminate him, they could still vote not to reinstate him.

AMY DODD THOMPSON can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her email address is athompson@dentonrc.com