THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090434
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
A federal judge has upheld the 1993 firing of Andrew T. Carrington as a Virginia Beach assistant school superintendent.
In his ruling, Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. laid out several allegations that led to Carrington's dismissal, including a charge that Carrington let a School Board member take school property.
The court file does not identify the board member or the school property.
According to court records, School Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette also accused Carrington of not following proper procurement policies for several school construction projects, buying a School Board car contrary to Faucette's instructions, and telling an architect to do work at a school employee's home but to bill the work to a school project.
Details of the accusations are not in the court file.
The School Board fired Carrington from his $81,497-a-year job in November 1993, but never publicly explained its action.
Since July, Carrington has been superintendent of a small school system in Dorchester, S.C.
A month after his firing, Carrington sued architect Charles R. Krummell for $2.5 million, saying Krummell lied to the School Board.
Krummell told the board that Carrington had ordered him to do work at a school employee's home and charge it to a school account.
That case is scheduled for trial in July. Carrington recently added Faucette as a co-defendant in the case.
In November, Carrington sued the School Board and Faucette for $2.85 million in federal court in Norfolk. He accused them of violating his due process rights by firing him.
Carrington claimed the School Board refused to give him a public hearing as required by law, and instead met behind closed doors to decide his fate.
He said the board did not let him present evidence or cross-examine witnesses, did not give him a transcript of the hearing and improperly let Faucette be present at the hearing.
But in an affidavit, Faucette said Carrington chose not to attend the hearing.
Faucette said Carrington showed up at the hearing on Nov. 4, 1993, with his lawyer, his wife, a court stenographer and TV reporters.
When the board chairman told Carrington that the hearing would be held behind closed doors, as personnel matters usually are, Carrington allegedly said he would not participate.
The board suspended Carrington with pay until his contract expired at the end of the school year, and agreed not to renew the contract. The board made its decision in executive session, then formally approved the action in a public session.
Judge Clarke threw out Carrington's lawsuit Friday. Lawyers received his opinion Tuesday.
``Carrington was provided with ample written notice of the hearing date and offered a fair opportunity to present his case,'' Clarke wrote. ``The fact that Carrington ultimately elected not to attend the meeting does not defeat its constitutional sufficiency.''
Clarke also dismissed two other claims by Carrington - that the School Board breached his contract and fired him in violation of Virginia law - because they are state claims, not federal.
That leaves the possibility that Carrington could refile those claims in Circuit Court.
Neither Carrington nor his attorney could be reached for comment. by CNB