Clayton County

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston is suing the Clayton County, Ga., Board of Education, his former boss, over lost wages, slander and defamation, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf in federal court in Atlanta. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, Hairston alleges that the school board has denied him money he is owed from a consulting contract worth about $12,900 a month in salary and benefits. Clayton County stopped payments to Hairston at the end of July.

The Baltimore County school system has paid a Georgia software company hand-selected by Superintendent Joe A. Hairston at least $4 million over the past decade without seeking competitive offers from other companies. In doing so, procurement experts say, the school system did not follow commonly accepted purchasing practices that would have required the system to fully explore whether similar products were on the market. Concern about the lack of transparency in the school system's business practices has been growing among county lawmakers for the past year, since they began questioning the ethics of another deal that Hairston struck with a colleague.

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston can't shake his former bosses on the Clayton County, Ga., Board of Education, who have frozen $151,000 in payments Hairston is owed on a consulting contract he signed when he stepped down as schools chief there in January. The Clayton County board voted last month to withhold the money, which was to be paid during the 2000-2001 fiscal year. Hairston's first check is due at the end of this month, said Gary Sams, the board's attorney.

Two men who were charged with robbing a White Marsh bank last week will be extradited to Georgia, where authorities say they are wanted on murder, assault and kidnapping charges after escaping from a county jail last month. The men, Shawn Stanley Gilreath, 28, and Floyd Wayne Williams, 25, were featured on the television show America's Most Wanted after their escape Nov. 18 from the jail in Clayton County, Ga. Williams was in jail awaiting trial on two counts of murder and aggravated assault in the shooting death of a 47-year-old man and a 16-month-old boy in 2001.

Joe A. Hairston, Baltimore County's next schools superintendent, is a man in much demand. Although Hairston has agreed to take charge of Baltimore County schools starting July 1, a job for which he will be paid $180,000 a year, education officials in Georgia, where he used to work, question whether he will be able to satisfy a contract he signed with them in January. The contract confusion in Georgia could create problems for Hairston in Maryland. Members of the Baltimore County Board of Education, Hairston's new bosses, want him all to themselves.

Joseph A. Hairston, who resigned last month after a stormy tenure as school superintendent in an Atlanta suburb, has emerged as the leading candidate to head Baltimore County's 106,000-student school system. Members of a county search committee, including the school board president and vice president, met with Clayton County, Ga., school officials yesterday to discuss Hairston's job performance, according to sources in Baltimore County and Georgia. Search committee members who went to Atlanta to meet with Hairston, and his former colleagues, could present their findings to the school board at a meeting this weekend, Baltimore County school sources said.

Joseph A. Hairston, Baltimore County's pick to be the next schools superintendent, will likely collect two salaries -- worth at least $260,000 -- during his first year on the job in Towson. Hairston, expected to start his new job in Baltimore County July 1, will receive about $190,000 from his former employer, the Clayton County (Ga.) Board of Education, during the next 18 months, Mark Armstrong, president of the Clayton County school board said yesterday. That would be in addition to the salary he would earn as head of the Baltimore County schools if his appointment is confirmed by the Board of Education on March 14. Hairston's Baltimore County salary and benefits package has not been made public, but he would likely earn more than retiring Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione, who receives $137,376.

Baltimore County's new schools superintendent, Joseph A. Hairston, will earn $180,000 a year, which will rank him among the four highest-paid school chiefs in the state. Hairston's contract -- which entitles him to the use of a county vehicle, an annual $10,000 contribution to the tax-sheltered annuity of his choice and 54 paid vacation days, holidays and personal days -- expires June 30, 2004. The 52-year-old Georgia educator, who spent 27 years in Prince George's County as a teacher and administrator, will start his new job in Towson July 1. The salary Hairston negotiated with the Board of Education is higher than those of all but two other superintendents in the state.

Joseph A. Hairston, a straight-talking administrator whose confrontations with school board members forced him to leave a job in the Atlanta suburbs, is expected to be named Baltimore County's next superintendent today. The appointment will wrap up a nationwide search for a schools chief to replace Anthony G. Marchione, who is retiring. Hairston, who led the Clayton County school system for five years before resigning last month, is expected to take control of the county's 106,000-student system this summer, sources said.

Two men who were charged with robbing a White Marsh bank last week will be extradited to Georgia, where authorities say they are wanted on murder, assault and kidnapping charges after escaping from a county jail last month. The men, Shawn Stanley Gilreath, 28, and Floyd Wayne Williams, 25, were featured on the television show America's Most Wanted after their escape Nov. 18 from the jail in Clayton County, Ga. Williams was in jail awaiting trial on two counts of murder and aggravated assault in the shooting death of a 47-year-old man and a 16-month-old boy in 2001.

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston is suing the Clayton County, Ga., Board of Education, his former boss, over lost wages, slander and defamation, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf in federal court in Atlanta. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, Hairston alleges that the school board has denied him money he is owed from a consulting contract worth about $12,900 a month in salary and benefits. Clayton County stopped payments to Hairston at the end of July.

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston can't shake his former bosses on the Clayton County, Ga., Board of Education, who have frozen $151,000 in payments Hairston is owed on a consulting contract he signed when he stepped down as schools chief there in January. The Clayton County board voted last month to withhold the money, which was to be paid during the 2000-2001 fiscal year. Hairston's first check is due at the end of this month, said Gary Sams, the board's attorney.

Joe A. Hairston, Baltimore County's next schools superintendent, is a man in much demand. Although Hairston has agreed to take charge of Baltimore County schools starting July 1, a job for which he will be paid $180,000 a year, education officials in Georgia, where he used to work, question whether he will be able to satisfy a contract he signed with them in January. The contract confusion in Georgia could create problems for Hairston in Maryland. Members of the Baltimore County Board of Education, Hairston's new bosses, want him all to themselves.

Baltimore County's new schools superintendent, Joseph A. Hairston, will earn $180,000 a year, which will rank him among the four highest-paid school chiefs in the state. Hairston's contract -- which entitles him to the use of a county vehicle, an annual $10,000 contribution to the tax-sheltered annuity of his choice and 54 paid vacation days, holidays and personal days -- expires June 30, 2004. The 52-year-old Georgia educator, who spent 27 years in Prince George's County as a teacher and administrator, will start his new job in Towson July 1. The salary Hairston negotiated with the Board of Education is higher than those of all but two other superintendents in the state.

Joseph A. Hairston -- a hands-on educator with high expectations for teachers, students and parents -- was appointed superintendent of schools in Baltimore County last night. The appointment came after Hairston, who was offered the job Feb. 29, spent the past two weeks meeting with county and school officials, who wanted time to get to know the Georgia educator. "It's a happy day for Joe Hairston," he said after a unanimous vote by the 12-member Board of Education in Towson. He received a standing ovation from a roomful of well-wishers and made a quick phone call to his wife.

Joseph A. Hairston -- the man who is expected to lead Baltimore County schools during the next four years -- spent a lot of time with two of his biggest fans last week. Everywhere the educator went, the Board of Education president and vice president followed. Donald L. Arnold and Phyllis E. Ettinger guided him through a series of forums, where teachers, parents and administrators posed barbed questions, probing Hairston's character as well as his intellect. In the end, when the last gathering broke up, Arnold was pleased.

The Baltimore County school system has paid a Georgia software company hand-selected by Superintendent Joe A. Hairston at least $4 million over the past decade without seeking competitive offers from other companies. In doing so, procurement experts say, the school system did not follow commonly accepted purchasing practices that would have required the system to fully explore whether similar products were on the market. Concern about the lack of transparency in the school system's business practices has been growing among county lawmakers for the past year, since they began questioning the ethics of another deal that Hairston struck with a colleague.

Joseph A. Hairston, Baltimore County's pick to be the next schools superintendent, will likely collect two salaries -- worth at least $260,000 -- during his first year on the job in Towson. Hairston, expected to start his new job in Baltimore County July 1, will receive about $190,000 from his former employer, the Clayton County (Ga.) Board of Education, during the next 18 months, Mark Armstrong, president of the Clayton County school board said yesterday. That would be in addition to the salary he would earn as head of the Baltimore County schools if his appointment is confirmed by the Board of Education on March 14. Hairston's Baltimore County salary and benefits package has not been made public, but he would likely earn more than retiring Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione, who receives $137,376.

Joseph A. Hairston, a straight-talking administrator whose confrontations with school board members forced him to leave a job in the Atlanta suburbs, is expected to be named Baltimore County's next superintendent today. The appointment will wrap up a nationwide search for a schools chief to replace Anthony G. Marchione, who is retiring. Hairston, who led the Clayton County school system for five years before resigning last month, is expected to take control of the county's 106,000-student system this summer, sources said.