Petoskey Schools superintendent Chris Parker resigns amid district culture report and evaluation

Tess Ware, The Petoskey News-Review
·2 min read

PETOSKEY — In a special board meeting last night, the Public Schools of Petoskey Board of Education accepted the resignation of Superintendent Chris Parker, effective June 30.

In the same meeting, the board approved a separation agreement between Parker and the schools. Parker will be employed by the district until June 30, but will no longer perform his superintendent duties.

More: Petoskey school board to review superintendent's contract

Taking over as acting superintendent is Petoskey Middle School Principal Jon Wilcox, effective immediately. In last night’s meeting, several attendees expressed their approval of Wilcox as acting superintendent. Alanson resident Howard Bates suggested the board promote Wilcox instead of going through the search and hiring process.

Chris Parker
Chris Parker

While Wilcox is acting as superintendent, Assistant Principal Jason Purcell will be taking over as principal until Wilcox can return to his role.

“Our district has obviously been going through some tough times recently, but it's a great district and school community. I'm proud to be here and I'm confident that our staff will work together to move our district forward,” Wilcox said.

More: Consultant: 90% of Public Schools of Petoskey staff interviewed find culture 'broken'

Parker is stepping down after the release of a report that indicated 90 percent of district staff believe the culture to be “broken,” and an evaluation that concluded that Parker has been “minimally effective” in his role as superintendent.

The report was conducted by Dr. Michael Washburn, a former superintendent and now consultant with the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District. Washburn spoke to 165 district staff members.

Prior to his resignation, the school board was looking into either reassigning Parker or terminating his contract. Parker was hired in April 2019 and was the sixth superintendent in the last 100 years.

Neither Parker nor Ling responded to requests for comment in time for publication.

— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @Tess_Petoskey

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey Schools superintendent Chris Parker resigns amid district culture report and evaluation