Former DCS Supt. Edwards’ attorney alleges school board was ‘looking to get rid of her’

On Jan. 17, school board attorney Kevin Walding told the Dothan Eagle that Edwards worked at her Florida home from March 2020 until her resignation and did not come to either of the two board meetings after submitting her “intent to resign” to the board.

Edwards’ Montgomery-based attorney Jacob Fuller denied that Edwards was working from her Palm Beach home for that long a duration.

“That statement is demonstrably false, as Dr. Edwards was in Dothan during a large majority of that time, guiding the system through the pandemic,” he told the Eagle in a recent email. “Dr. Edwards did take some brief, board-approved vacation time in Florida, but to state that she was there, and not in Dothan, for seven months is patently false and defamatory towards my client.”

The Eagle reached out to Walding on Tuesday and Wednesday, but he has been unavailable for comment.

Among the allegations Fuller has leveled against DCS concerning what he called her “termination” in September, he said certain individuals were working to undermine Edwards during much of her tenure as superintendent that eventually led her to sending her intent to resign.

“There is a reason why they took quick action to terminate her employment…they were looking to get rid of her,” Fuller said. “I do not want to talk much about impending litigation, but I will tell you that this falsehood, with its sole purpose to run down my client, gives you a glimpse as to what will be unearthed later in discovery.”

On behalf of Edwards, Fuller is demanding $584,000 from the Dothan City School Board of Education to pay out the remainder of her contract, including salary, retirement benefits, vacation, and sick leave. If she is not paid, he will be filing a lawsuit, he said.

He is arguing that Edwards was effectively terminated from her position on Sept. 14 when the board accepted her resignation and appointed Chief Operations Officer Dennis Coe as acting superintendent.

Walding previously told the Eagle that the board’s position is that Edwards resigned and was paid in full everything she was owed under her contract. He said Edwards sent nothing to the board indicating her willingness to work.

“I think anyone with common sense who read her letter would reach that same conclusion,” Walding said.

Her entire resignation letter can be found here.

A request from the Eagle to obtain a copy of Edwards’ attendance record was denied by DCS Public Information Officer Meagan Dorsey, citing the information is part of a “pending legal matter.”