DANVILLE, Ill. (Chambana Today) — Danville School District board members on Wednesday night, voted unanimously to dismiss Narcissus Rankin of her position as Business Manager, after serving for five years. She was also placed on administrative leave as a tenured teacher, with the board only stating on their agenda as a motion to adopt a notice of “Charges and Particulars Authorizing the Dismissal of Narcissus Rankin as a Tenured Teacher in the School District.”
Rankin, who spoke at the beginning of the meeting with a prepared statement during public comment, said that she was “blindsided” from her dismissal and felt that it was due to a retaliatory angst from her relationship with former Superintendent Alicia Geddis, who was also dismissed in February after not returning to in person duties for several months, claiming she was being harassed. The school board paid more than $500,000 to Geddis for that dismissal which also stemmed from a prior settlement agreement.
Rankin said her biggest concern was that she was not made aware of any performance issues. “What is most troubling about this process is the complete absence of any direct communication regarding my performance. At no time was I approached with concerns, offered feedback or given the opportunity to improve or respond.”
The only concerns that were previously made were ones that involved interpersonal disagreements among staff, which she said she addressed directly. “Later, when a staff member raised concerns about overtime being restricted. I followed up, directly with Mr. Hart and was told that overtime remained an option, especially during time sensitive tasks like payroll processing.”
While board members reviewed full correspondence from the state’s Teacher Retirement System, Rankin said they should have seen that late fees the district was charged were later waived, since they were in incurred in 2023 during an update to computer systems, which TRS made an exception for. Another incident involved the control over the use of Geddis’ personal credit card and happened after a vendor’s refusal to accept a purchase order without available credit on the district’s issued card.
Rankin added that the previous board was aware of the issue and she has documentation from four members, with who, three are still on the board. She also noted that auditors hadn’t noted any concerns about her performance and she hadn’t heard of any concerns or correspondence from the district about any issues raised with her performance or cooperation until Superintendent Hart’s letter last week. “There were no negative references to my fiscal management, communication, or professionalism. To imply otherwise is not only misleading and defamatory,” she said.
“To insinuate that I don’t understand my fiduciary duty is not only incorrect, it is a direct attack on my professionalism and integrity as a certified school business official,” Rankin said, and added that, “it’s retaliatory and rooted in my relationship with former Superintendent Dr. Geddis.”
She also noted that there were no other concerns about her performance and she hadn’t received any correspondence from the district about any issues until she got a letter from Hart last week.
Superintendent John Hart was not able to discuss any further personnel issues at this time.
* In other business, board members heard from Parent April Perkins with concerns that her two children, one in second grade and the other in third grade have been severely bullied at Mark Denman School. She said that a complaint was filed and the school had downplayed the incidents. Superintendent John Hart said that he will be in contact with Principal Sollars to find a resolution to the situation.
* Board member Christopher Easton also noted during the meeting that with the district’s current budget deficit, he has noted a 28 percent increase in premiums for teachers. ” Something that is most concerning to me is, I can see in the budget for this year, a $2.4 million increase in premiums, a 28 percent increase for teachers and that is a lot of money for an increase, and you see our budget was already at a deficit.” Easton said he hopes the board can work some magic as the deficit was already on the radar. “That’s a very large increase, and that’s for just one year. Not to be an alarmist, just a realist.” he said.