Lawyers for county school board question ex-principal’s record

Augusta County Schools charge that a district administrator cost himself two jobs he sought because he was difficult to manage, failed to lead and struggled to control students and staff, resulting in a string of high-profile incidents that drew negative local and national media scrutiny.

The claims are made in more than 150 pages of documents filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg in response to former Fort Defiance High School Principal Paul E. “Chip” Hill’s age discrimination lawsuit.

Five times in a 24-page motion the district refers to Hill’s management style at Fort Defiance as “my way or the highway,” leading to clashes with Superintendent Gary McQuain and parents. “McQuain had continual concerns with [Hill’s] ‘my way or the highway’ approach to leadership as well as his inability to follow or accept instruction from Dr. McQuain’s office,” the motion says.

As a result, the district transferred Hill before the 2006-07 school year to an administrative post as director of truancy and alternative education and passed him over for positions as assistant superintendent for operations and principal at Wilson Memorial High School, the motion says. Hill kept the same pay but did not get the 6.25 percent pay increase other employees received that school year, according to court documents.

Hill, who was 51 when he filed the suit last summer, declined to comment Tuesday. In a deposition, he defends his conduct and charges that his relationship with McQuain became increasingly antagonistic and that the superintendent saw him as a “professional threat.”

This is an excerpt from an article appearing today in The News Virginian’s print edition. For the full story pick up a copy of The News Virginian at a local newsstand.