When in (or not in) doubt, flesh it out!

We all know the drill. You interview multiple employees/applicants for a position, and one just stands out. Your gut tells you he’s the right guy for the position, but on paper, he’s less qualified than the other candidates. Oh, and the others are members of a protected class. How can you avoid landing in hot water if you hire Mr. Right Guy? A Mississippi school district recently learned this lesson the hard way.

Facts

Cora Cunningham began working for the East Tallahatchie School District (ETSD) as an inclusion teacher in the fall of 2017. She had more than 23 years of experience in the education field, including three years as an assistant principal in other school districts. She also had an administrator’s license and a Doctor of Education degree in educational leadership.

In July 2018, Cunningham applied for the assistant principal position at Charleston High School. The school district’s superintendent, Darron Edwards, delegated Mark Beechem, principal at the high school, to interview applicants for the position. Beechem, who had previously worked with Cunningham in the same school and had an opportunity to observe her, interviewed some of the applicants but chose not to meet with Cunningham because of her performance in a past interview.

Beechem selected Ranald Johnson for the position because “he brought some things to the table that would be beneficial” to the high school and “would be a good fit for the system” the principal was putting in place. Johnson held a specialist’s degree in educational leadership, which is “above a master’s degree” but short of a Ph.D.