(CROSWELL) — Former Croswell-Lexington Schools Superintendent Charles Smith will be coming back to the district to serve on an interim basis. The school board made the decision to hire Smith during Tuesday night’s meeting. Smith served as Superintendent for 13-years and retired from Cros-Lex in 2007. He will replace Julie Western, who resigned. Reports say that during a special meeting Monday, the board agreed to pay out around $700,000 in severance to Western and her sister Ann Wood, who also resigned effective immediately. Wood served as Director of Administration, Curriculum, and Operations. According to legal respresentatives for both women, Western will receive a total of $415,000 to fulfill the remainder of her contract, which ends June 30, 2018. Wood is set to receive $285,000. Her contract expires on June 30, 2017. The resignations of both administrators was spurred by the controversy over the resignations of three principals in May who lacked proper administrator certifications, which led to the Cros-Lex district being fined over $107,000 by the state. The resignations of High School Principal Ryan Cayce, Middle School Principal Mark Benson and Frostick Elementary Principal Colette Moody resulted in a community uproar and the formation of the group “Citizens for Change at Croswell-Lexington Schools.”
