Polk Superintendent tenders resignation

In a special called meeting Thursday night, the Polk School District Board of Education unanimously accepted the resignation of Superintendent Dr. Darrell Wetherington, who had been suspended the week before amid an investigation into allegations of misconduct while an administrator in the school system.

Wetherington was currently serving the paid suspension due to an alleged incident where he disrupted a class at Westside Elementary School in late February, according to a previous press release from the school board.

According to a Cedartown Police report, he had tried to talk to his estranged wife, who is a third grade teacher at the school, while she was teaching children in her classroom.

The resignation agreement specifies that Wetherington will be paid for three months of his salary, equalling $33,998.85.

According to school board attorney Michael McRae of McRae, Smith, Peek, Harman & Monroe, Wetherington will forego a public hearing and forfeit his entire salary for the duration of his three-year contract that the board approved in July 2016, totaling $450,000.

The action formally releases the school board from any additional contractual obligations with Wetherington, according to McRae, who spoke to the public in attendance at the board meeting Thursday.

In the meantime, assistant Superintendents Greg Teems and Laurie Atkins have assumed the roll of day-to-day operations of the school system.