COLDWATER, MI (WTVB)- A member of the Quincy Community School’s Board of Education indicated during Wednesday’s Branch Intermediate School District Board of Trustees meeting that the lines of communications between officials in the two districts have to improve after former I.T. Director Jason Ferrell left the Quincy district last January.
According to minutes from the September Quincy Board of Education meeting, B.I.S.D. Technology Director Mark Knaack told the board that after Ferrell left the school district, he stepped in to ensure that the Quincy computer network was secure and all passwords were reset.
The minutes state that when Ferrell was at the school he was the only one that had passwords to the school’s technology, but Knaack changed that so administrators could gain access as well. Knaack also said that a new firewall was installed.
Quincy board member Jennifer Wortz, who said she was speaking on her own behalf, wondered why the installation of the new firewall wasn’t done as soon as Ferrell resigned, especially after the district had to pay Ferrell for three weeks of work after his resignation.
The post-resignation payment to Ferrell led the Branch County Prosecutors office to file misusing public money felony charges against former Superintendent Craig Artist and Business Manager Cheryl Globke, but the charges were dropped following Knaack’s testimony during a preliminary exam in Artist’s case.
Wortz also asked Wednesday that if there had been a problem, why wasn’t it communicated to the Superintendent or the Quincy Board of Education President.
B.I.S.D. Superintendent Joe Lopez told Wortz that usually communications between two districts involve Superintendents or administrators, but he planned to address the concerns Wortz raised in a letter to Quincy Interim Superintendent Martin Chard. He will also share his response with the B.I.S.D. board members.
Ferrell resigned on the same day the district placed him on leave in connection with sexual misconduct allegations. He was arrested in April on six counts of criminal sexual conduct in connection with alleged crimes involving a former female student.
