When they met Wednesday night, members of the Leavenworth Board of Education approved a resolution of intent to terminate the contract of Jan Cox, principal of Howard Wilson Elementary School.

Cox has the option of requesting a hearing before board members regarding the planned termination. According to the resolution, the hearing, if requested, will be held Nov. 21.

The resolution was approved with a vote of 5-1 with board member Loyal Torkelson voting against it.

The board is down to six members. Duane Denney resigned from the board. His resignation letter was read during Wednesday’s meeting.

The resolution cited three reasons for board members’ desire to terminate Cox’s contract — “ordering the alteration of student information with the intent to manipulate adequate yearly progress data,” “insubordination,” and “failure to follow district policies and procedures.”

A number of supporters of Cox attended Wednesday’s meeting and many of them addressed the board.

Cox attended the meeting. Board Clerk Kevin Gullett presented her with a copy of the resolution after it was approved by the board.

Gullett collected keys, a credit card and cell phone that had been issued to the principal by the school district.

According to a letter mailed Thursday to Howard Wilson parents, Cox is on  suspension with pay pending the results of a hearing.

It’s not clear if Cox will submit a written request for a hearing before board members. A call to her Leavenworth residence was not returned Thursday.

The resolution gave her 10 days to file the request with the board clerk.

Board members voted on the resolution Wednesday after meeting behind closed doors in executive session for an hour.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Superintendent Kelly Harris did not provide other details regarding the alleged altering of student information, insubordination and what policies and practices were not followed by Cox.

“It could possibly taint the fair hearing process,” Harris said.

She said Cox has the option of requesting the hearing be held in public or behind closed doors.

“She has the opportunity to present evidence to counter the allegations,” Harris said.

Speaking at Wednesday’s board meeting, Vicky Olsen, a Howard Wilson parent and president of the school’s site council, said she heard a rumor about 12 days ago concerning Cox being fired.

She called the school district’s administrative office and was told she didn’t have all of the facts.

Olsen said she spent a week and a half getting facts.

According to Olsen, the problem seemed to stem from how a student’s race is classified based on information provided on an enrollment form.

The performance of students of a particular race can be a factor in a school making adequate yearly progress, which is associated with the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

Olsen said enrollment forms for the district list six races and parents are asked to identify a child’s primary race and secondary race.

If black is listed as the primary race and white as the secondary race, a bi-racial student is considered to be black. If white is listed as the primary race followed by black, a student is considered multi-ethnic, Olsen said.

Olsen said Howard Wilson did not follow a practice of classifying multi-racial children as black students. She said Cox had called parents and asked them how they wanted their children to be listed. Olsen said most parents felt it made sense to list the students as being multi-ethnic.

She said this did not warrant dismissing a principal with an excellent track record.

Olsen said Cox had been principal of Howard Wilson for 12 years.

Olsen said Cox has never received anything other than an outstanding evaluation.

Olsen suggested correcting a faulty and confusing system for coding a child’s race.

Board president Linda Larison asked how fliers from Olsen regarding the Cox issue had been sent home with students.

Olsen indicated a woman from a parent-teacher organization had assisted in getting the fliers into the right hands.

Larison said she was bothered by children being used as pawns. She also asked how Olsen obtained privileged information such as details about the principal’s evaluations.

“I asked her,” Olsen said.

Many other parents as well as people who have worked for Cox spoke in support of the principal.

The vote on the resolution came later in the meeting.

Harris said Thursday that she learned of allegations of wrongdoing against Cox about five weeks ago.

She said district officials conducted an internal investigation. An independent investigator also was brought in.

Harris said the process wrapped up Friday.

The superintendent said Cox had not been asked to resign.

Larison said Thursday in a telephone interview that board members are limited in how much information they can release about a personnel issue.

“You can’t lay everything out there,” she said.

Harris said Thursday that Kevin Lunsford, principal of the Leavenworth Virtual School, has assumed the duties of principal at Howard Wilson. He also will continue to be in charge of the virtual school.

Lunsford previously served as principal of Earl M. Lawson Elementary School.

In other business:

* STUDENT EXPULSION — Board members approved a resolution that upheld a recommendation of a hearing officer that a student be expelled for the remainder of the school year.

The resolution came after an appeal hearing held Tuesday before someone appointed by the board.

The board passed the resolution Wednesday after meeting behind closed doors in executive session for about 16 minutes.

The resolution did not identify the student. It also did not indicate why the student was being expelled.