ADRIAN — Kevin Purnell was fired Monday, Aug. 30, as superintendent of the Adrian School District just one week after students returned to school.

The Adrian School Board, convening in a special meeting, voted 4-1 to terminate Purnell after meeting in executive, or closed door, session for less than half an hour to consider the matter.

The board provided no public explanation for its surprise decision to oust a superintendent who has been on the job for three years and in the district for 14 years.

Board Chair Eddie Kincade said after the meeting the decision was because of Purnell’s failure to follow board directives. He declined to elaborate.

Kincade and board members Bobby Davis, Ryan Martin, and Quinten Shenk voted for the motion to terminate Purnell while Eric White opposed it. They took the vote without comment.

After the board emerged from executive session and had its vote, Purnell gave an emotional speech to an emotional crowd.

He said he had at times failed to communicate well, and board members had at times failed to communicate in a civil manner.

“Ultimately, I feel that I have lost my way, and it began to consume me,” Purnell said. “I have become tired. Tired of disappointing myself, my family, my friends, my colleagues.”

The conflicts Kincade and Purnell alluded to emerged amid rising COVID cases in Malheur County and continued opposition to government-mandated mask-wearing in Adrian. Purnell has said he is not in favor of Gov. Kate Brown’s mandates, but he was described in comments by Adrian residents as a “rule follower” who would enforce them anyway.

No one has yet been named interim superintendent.

‘Man of integrity and ethical leadership’

Adrian taxpayers will pay out the $52,500 plus health insurance costs owed under Purnell’s contract over the next six months as a new superintendent is sought.

Purnell has been an educator for 37 years, and an administrator for 19 of those.

Before coming to Adrian, he held a variety of roles — including superintendent, high school principal, geometry teacher and volleyball coach – during 18 years in Prairie City.

Monday night saw Purnell energetically defended by the community he has served.

“I know firsthand that Mr. Purnell is one of the best superintendents in the county, and it breaks my heart that we are in this position,” said Nickie Shira, Malheur Education Service District STEM coordinator and Adrian 2040 founder. “It’s sad that it has come to this. But beyond mask mandates, there’s a lot to running the school, to leading the staff and being an administrator. And Mr. Purnell is a man of integrity and ethical leadership.”

“We say that an outcome of education at Adrian is to produce good citizens. To achieve that, our children must be led by honorable and moral leaders,” said Eric Ellis. “Dismissing Mr. Purnell would send the exact opposite message – that we want only educational leaders who lead when it is convenient and non-controversial, and in accordance with the short-term passions of the vocal minority.”

The subject of masking, opposed by some as government infringement on rights, came up during public comments to the board.

“I’m a senior this year at Adrian and I don’t really care what it takes,” said Elizabeth Nielson, Associated Student Body president. “Being online in school was not good. And if it means doing something I don’t want to do, because I don’t want to wear a mask, I’ll do what it takes.”

Split communitiesAcross Oregon, school boards have been angered by Gov. Kate Brown’s mandates, including the requirement that everyone in a school building wear a mask. Two other local superintendents, Alisha McBride in Vale and Darren Johnson in Nyssa, have publicly come out against the mask order since it was announced in July, but their districts have been complying.

“We have a shared priority to reliably return students to full-time, in-person school this year,” said Colt Gill, director of the Oregon Department of Education. “Face coverings are proven to slow the spread of COVID-19. I say this knowing that face coverings aren’t the argument. Personal freedom is the argument. But, with personal freedom comes responsibility, not only for ourselves, but for our neighbors.”

“It depends on where you are in the state and which community, but all superintendents are facing some level of community pressure related to the mask and vaccine mandate,” said Craig Hawkins, executive director of the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators. “Honestly, superintendents only really have one option, and the same is true of their administrative teams and their teachers, and that is to follow the law.”

“Superintendents implementing safety protocols are NOT being political, they are trying to maintain in-person learning,” said Gill. “The idea of a superintendent losing their job due to prioritizing in-person learning makes no sense.”

The mask mandate was a key topic at the Adrian School Board meeting on Aug. 12.

Speaking during public comment, Paul Shenk said that while he enjoyed skirting rules, “Kevin likes rules.”

“What I feel the frustration is, is that we expect the administrators to advocate for the community,” said Shenk. “As superintendents, you guys need to band together to fight.”

“(Purnell) is going to protect the district by protecting its employees, and a lot of the community would say, ‘I think that the superintendent needs to protect the kids, and protect the education the school gives by protecting the kids,’” said Jake Speelmonn, former Adrian School Board member, in an interview with the Enterprise. “They see those things as opposing. Before, you could do both. Now, with the political nature of vaccines, masks, government threats and that stuff, I think you’ve got to pick a side. You’ll toe the line, or you’ll stand on your beliefs.”

Among those beliefs is a conviction that masks are at best unnecessary, and at worst, actively harmful to children.

Some also see the mandate to wear masks as an incentive to take their children out of Adrian and shift to nearby Parma, Idaho, where there are virtually no COVID restrictions.

Recent census results show that the population of Adrian dropped 11% in the past decade to 157 residents. The school district’s boundary is larger than that of the town, but their fates are intimately tied.

“I am fearful that if we require all students to wear masks to school, we will be closing our school,” said Sarah Martin at the recent board meeting. “Please don’t unenroll to make a point. That’s only going to hurt our local school.”

“It would be a shame if we let this school die because we can’t buck the system just a little bit,” said Joel Brice at that meeting.