MADISON TOWNSHIP — Eddie Walker’s contract was not on the Madison Local School District’s special meeting agenda Thursday. Nor was it discussed during a meeting that lasted just a few minutes.
But the popular freshman science teacher was in attendance, along with a few dozen supporters.
Afterward, Walker said he was disappointed he didn’t get a chance to speak with the board, which voted unanimously in May to oppose Superintendent Shelley Hilderbrand’s recommendation that he be non-renewed.
Walker posted on social media Thursday afternoon, asking supporters to attend the board meeting to seek answers about his contract.
“I was hoping they would give us a chance to talk,” said Walker, who said the union’s contract with the district calls for his next contract to be five years in length.
“I was told by my union reps on Tuesday that she was only offering me a one-year contract,” said Walker, who will be entering his seventh year as a teacher in the district. “(If a five-year pact is not offered), we are definitely going to have to file a grievance that she is not following our union contract.”
Hilderbrand declined comment on Walker’s contract situation. The brief board meeting on Thursday dealt with other personnel decisions and the board approval of computers and related equipment.
“I really can’t talk about personnel issues. As far as contracts go, I know we follow the (Ohio Revised Code). I know that’s what the board has done and that’s what I have done,” Hilderbrand said.
Board President Jeff Meyers also declined comment.
“I don’t care what Eddie Walker said (on social media). That’s a personnel matter and we will absolutely never discuss that in public,” Meyers said.
Hilderbrand had recommended Walker not be renewed based on violations of school policy in handling funds in his role as Key Club advisor, a post Walker has since given up. No criminal charges were filed regarding missing funds and Walker has been repaying the funds through payroll deductions.
