Greene County Commissioner Joshua Arrowood had told Radio Greeneville News Sunday he had permanently suspended his campaign for Greene County Mayor. Monday we learned he has also resigned as a teacher in the Greene County School System.
In response to a question from Radio Greeneville News, Director of Schools Dr. Chris Malone said Monday morning that Arrowood, a history teacher and basketball coach at South Greene Middle School had resigned from his position.
On March 12th, the school system received allegations of inappropriate behavior by Arrowood in the workplace, at which time an internal investigation into those claims began. The following day he was notified in writing by the Director of Schools (see first letter below) of behavior in violation of school board policy 5.500 related to Discrimination/Harassment of Employees. At that time he was placed on indefinite suspension status without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.
On March 24th Arrowood was notified by Malone in writing that based on the facts regarding his behavior, Malone had “concluded the only acceptable course of action would be to seek his dismissal by the Board of Education.” (see second letter below) Any other response Malone wrote “could send a message that such behavior can be tolerated.”
Arrowood was told that Charges of Dismissal would be presented to the school board during their April meeting. Given the option to resign as a tenured teacher rather than action by the board, Arrowood submitted and Malone accepted his resignation. Malone went on to write “there is simply no situation in which you will be returning to Greene County schools as a teacher. I hate that it has come to this, but your actions left me with no other choice.”
At this time , Arrowood remains a Greene County Commissioner in the second district. He had qualified to run for Mayor so was not seeking reelection to his County Commission seat which is set to expire after the August meeting of the Commission. Since the deadline to do so has passed, his name will remain on the May 5th ballot for Mayor.
In a response to a personnel records request from Radio Greeneville News, Assistant Director of Schools Dr. Bill Ripley provided the letters shown below from Director of Schools Dr. Chris Malone to Joshua Arrowood March 13 and 24.
