Clintondale renews superintendent contract amid controversy

CLINTON TOWNSHIP —  The Clintondale Community Schools Board of Education unanimously renewed Superintendent Rodriguez Broadnax’s contract at its July 25 meeting. 

The board’s support for Broadnax comes during a period of controversy surrounding the district. A group of people with Clintondale ties, including two former school board members, have accused the district of financial impropriety and have accused Broadnax of misrepresenting himself on his resume.

 

Support for Broadnax
Broadnax became superintendent in July 2021 after the board launched a search for a new superintendent. He spent the year handling the district’s response to COVID-19 outbreaks, helped the district acquire new smartboards and helped arrange a contract with a new food provider for the district. 

Ahead of the July 25 meeting, Broadnax’s executive assistant, Eugenia Williams, compiled a collection of photographs and comments from district staff in favor of Broadnax. Williams took time reading the comments without attributing the words to any specific district personnel and offered her own support for the superintendent.

“One day, I went to the car wash, and I was in my car crying over the death of my father,” Williams said. “(Broadnax) sat in that car and waited and prayed with me for my strength to get through. … That’s how I knew he cared about people. Did he need to sit there with me in the heat? No, he did not.”

Board President Beverly Lewis-Moss motioned for Broadnax’s $137,000-per-year contract “to be extended for one year,” which the board unanimously approved. His contract is set to run through the 2023-2024 school year. 

 

Former staff allege wrongdoings
A group of about four people once involved with Clintondale — including former board members Jason Davidson and Mark Titus — said Broadnax and several board members committed financial wrongdoings during a 2021 professional development conference in San Diego. Davidson had been on the school board for 18 years, and Titus had been on the school board for 14 years.

The group says Broadnax, Lewis-Moss, board trustee Jim Potter and Special Services Director Belinda Hicks spent about $460 on clothing, alcohol and jewelry using district funds.

“The board has received this information, (and) they chose to do nothing,” Davidson said on July 15. “The board has been advised of this — I made it public months ago, and the board has not taken action on it.”

Broadnax, Potter and Lewis-Moss have not denied the purchases. Broadnax has said in statements that the district purchasing policy is “not very specific and is vague as to what is allowable”; that the board is “reviewing and updating district policy regarding travel expenses, as needed”; and that “all expenses in question related to the trip” have been paid back by himself, Potter and Lewis-Moss, which Lewis-Moss echoed in a July 19 statement released on behalf of the board. Hicks did not respond to a request for comment.

Potter said at the July 25 meeting that he is responsible for buying alcohol on the trip, specifically stating that Broadnax does not drink. Titus accused Broadnax of buying $9 worth of alcohol at a San Diego hotel, which Broadnax said was for a Sprite.

Members of the group raising questions have also accused Broadnax of falsifying his resume, which Broadnax and Ray and Associates, the firm that conducted Clintondale’s superintendent search, have denied. 

“I have been fortunate to have a long, accomplished and rewarding career in education — serving children and families across the country,” Broadnax said in a statement. “Ray and Associates completed a comprehensive review of my credentials and confirmed — after conducting ‘specific examinations of my professional experiences as a high school assistant principal, middle school principal, central office administrator and superintendent’ — that I possessed all required credentials to satisfy my previous and existing job requirements. I have also received appropriate certifications in Michigan.