The Mississippi Ethics Commission is reviewing a complaint lodged by a former principal that claims the Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees violated the state’s Open Meetings Law, Mississippi Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Hood said Thursday.

Rodney Smith, who was suspended from his position as Warren Central High School principal and subsequently was assigned to the district’s central office, resigned from the district June 30.

On Aug. 14, Smith filed notice with the ethics board that his reassignment was voted on in a telephone poll, a practice the district has used time and again during the past two years and a practice that Hood has told The Vicksburg Post is against state ethics laws.

In a July 20 The Vicksburg Post report uncovering the board’s practice of voting via telephone polling and later ratifying those actions during meetings, the Ethics Commission chairman said the practice was illegal. Hood said the only way the board can vote is in an open meeting or in the executive session of a legally posted meeting.

Hood said in July the Ethics Commission would not review or act on the school board’s practice unless a complaint was filed with the commission.

Smith filed less than a month later.

“My complaint is that Dr. Swinford surveyed the board members, which violates open meeting laws, and coerced each of them by providing one side of the story and I was not allowed to present my side prior to the board making a decision as to my continued position as principal at Warren Central,” Smith wrote in his complaint. “I was able to present my side of the story, limited to five minutes, in an open meeting, after the fact.”

District 1 Trustee and board president Bryan Pratt declined to comment Thursday on the ethics complaint, but said Smith had the opportunity to present his side of the story.

“He did follow the appeals process and opted not to pursue it,” Pratt said. “My recollection of what happened was, before we had a chance to review the appeal, he withdrew his appeal.”

Smith did not return calls for comment on the complaint.

Swinford, contacted Thursday night, said she could not comment because the complaint is in state hands.

“We received Mr. Smith’s complaint from the Ethics Commission,” Swinford said. “We wrote and submitted our response and await the commission’s decision.”

According to the district response to the Ethics Commission, filed by Board Attorney Briggs Hopson III, Smith’s complaint is without merit.

“It appears from Smith’s complaint that his primary concern is related to his suspension and reassignment,” Hopson wrote in the response filed 10 days after Smith’s complaint was made. “This concern could have been addressed through the proper avenues of appeal as indicated in the education related statutes (Miss. Code Ann. 37-9-59 and 37-9-14 (s) and corresponding statutes). It appears that he is now trying to rectify his failure to use the appellate process by making this allegation of an open meeting violation. Neither the facts nor the laws support his contention of such a violation.”

Smith’s suspension stemmed from several alleged incidences reported to Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Swinford, including two that were reported by trustees of the school board, according to Hopson’s response.

In an affidavit filed with the school district’s response to Smith’s complaint, Pratt said he heard Smith make an inappropriate comment regarding the appearance of cheerleaders’ new uniforms during a ninth-grade orientation program for students and parents in August 2011. Pratt contacted Swinford after the meeting to inform her about the comments.

Also filed with the response was a copy of a memorandum sent to Smith by Assistant Superintendent Paula Johnson on Nov. 8, 2011.

“The purpose of this memorandum is to document your inappropriate and unprofessional behaviors while serving in the role of principal,” the attachment reads.

Johnson wrote that she’d had reports of Smith’s making inappropriate comments to students and staff, some sexual and some racist, according to the attachment to the response.

An affidavit from District 2 Trustee Zelmarine Murphy cited what she termed Smith’s inappropriate sexual behavior toward a school cafeteria worker.

Hood and Ethics Commission Assistant Director and Head Counsel Chris Gamble said they expect the review of Smith’s complaint and the district’s response to take at least two months because of a backlog of complaints from across the state.

Otherwise, Hood was mum on the case.

“I’ll be making a recommendation in the case after a thorough review,” Hood wrote in an email.

Gamble said if violations of the Open Meetings Act are found, the individuals, not the boards, are responsible for any fines.

“There would be a hearing and the commission can order the public body to cease violating the Open Meetings Act,” Gamble said. “If they find that somebody has violated the law willfully and knowingly, the civil penalties are a sum not to exceed $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for a second.”