ARGYLE — Argyle school board members voted 5-2 to fire Superintendent Jason Ceyanes on Monday night.

He was also put on paid administrative leave with a 5-2 vote.

Jason Ceyanes

Both motions were made by school board member Brenda Alexander and seconded by Randy McKellar. Russell Am­mons and Klip Weaver voted against both motions.

School board President Debbie Cantrell and school district attorney Stephen Dubner gave joint comment, saying that the decision of the board was based on Ceyanes’ performance and ongoing issues.

Despite snow and sleet, about 80 people showed up for the 7 p.m. meeting, which went into closed session almost immediately.

Board members returned to open session a little before 10 p.m.

Alice Linahan, an Argyle resident who has been supportive of Ceyanes’ job as superintendent, said Monday night that she was “disgusted” with the decision.

“We need to get three new board members … and have a motion to rehire Jason Ceyanes in May,” Linahan said.

“What superintendent would want to work with this board?” she added.

“I fully support their decision,” said Sue Bancroft, another Argyle resident and a past school board president. “I respect the long service and history with the board and professionalism.”

Neal Adams, Ceyanes’ attorney, said Monday night that Ceyanes has done nothing wrong. He tried to work with the school board, but the board would not work with him, Adams said.

In public meetings, school board members had vocalized their support of Ceyanes and the way he was handling those issues.

On Jan. 22, board members voted 5-2 not to extend Ceyanes’ contract, and on Jan. 31, board members voted 6-1 to issue Ceyanes a written reprimand, but no one would say why.

Ammons cast the lone dissenting vote at the Jan. 31 meeting.

Board members would not comment on their votes, deferring to board policy that the president is the spokesperson for the school board.

At the Jan. 31 meeting, Cantrell emphasized that Ceyanes’ contract extends through May 31, 2010, and that the board was committed to working with the superintendent “in the best interest of this school district.”

School officials would not release or discuss the superintendent’s written evaluation or his written reprimand, saying they believed the documents were confidential and therefore not a public record.

The attorney general has not yet ruled whether they have to make that reprimand public.

In e-mails obtained by the Record-Chronicle, Ceyanes and board members sparred over a request for a specific report to be an agenda item.

In an e-mail to Cantrell and Ceyanes on Jan. 11, school board Vice President John Schinske requested an update on the “Foreign Language Labs” be on the Jan. 14 agenda.

In his e-mail, Schinske asked for specific details. Ceyanes responded that he would not be able to gather that amount of information by the Jan. 14 meeting and that he would try to have it ready for a Jan. 21 meeting.

In e-mail sent to board members Jan. 14, Ceyanes said his staff  would have a lot of difficulty in gathering all the information requested but that, essentially, it has taken five months to get the lab going.

“If the board feels as though five months was too long for this process to occur, then I will take full responsibility for the length of the process. I would request that the board issues me a written reprimand if you feel this project took too long, in lieu of causing, in my mind, an unnecessary burden on the other staff members,” wrote Ceyanes.

In an e-mail to Cantrell and Schinske later that day, Ceyanes wrote that if his offer for a reprimand was rejected, he “would like to invoke my rights under the board operating procedures for the Language Lab Report.”

Schinske responded in a Jan. 17 e-mail that he stands by his request as “requested per our board operating procedures.”

“The information on allocation of this sizable donation and a time line on how the project was initiated and is being completed is not unreasonable,” he wrote.

Bancroft, along with a grant from an Argyle education foundation, funded the foreign language lab at the high school with a donation.

Cantrell responded the next day that the request was in accordance with board policy and the item was put on the agenda.

That same day, in conceding to put the item on the agenda, Ceyanes wrote to Cantrell, “A board member cannot simply ask for an item to be an agenda item to circumvent my opportunity to ask the board if they want me to complete a report for an individual board member. … Now, I want you to know that I have been seriously considering for the past three days adding an item about my resignation.”

That item was not on the agenda.

Dubner, Schinske and Cantrell all said Monday the actions of the board and Ceyanes’ offer for a reprimand are completely unrelated.

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