Weeks after being officially hired as superintendent of education for the Selma City School System, Don Jefferson still does not have a contract and the one proposed Tuesday evening caused a heated debate among school board members.

One board member, Holland Powell, now regrets the lengths to which he went in disapproving items included in the proposed contract.

During the board’s work session, Powell pointed out the school board made a poor decision in not having a contract already lined up and agreed upon before making the hiring decision on Jefferson earlier this year.

“Y’all have done this backwards again,” Holland told members of the board. “You should have had this contract in place before making the decision to hire.

“You should have a contract before you ever voted on superintendent and said this is what we’re offering. Instead,” Holland said, “we are trying this in the press. This is a bad system.”

During the discussion, Powell focused on an item in the proposed contract requiring the school board to notify Jefferson six months before the end of the contract if it would not be renewed. If the board failed to notify Jefferson prior to the six months, the contract would be automatically renewed. On the flip side, the proposed contract calls for Jefferson to notify the board only three months before the end of the contract if he plans to look somewhere else, but requires the board to pay him during those final three months.

“An employer’s function is not to provide jobs,” Powell said. “This guy has got to provide a function.

“It is not the school system’s job to just provide jobs for people … you’ve got to earn it. You know? Come on. We’re not the welfare department, where you can just stay at home, smoke dope and make babies. You know … and get more money.”

That comment, quickly drew a question from fellow board member Brenda Randolph-Obamanu. “Is that what you do on welfare,” Randolph-Obamanu asked. “That’s what I see them do,” Powell responded.

A day removed from the comments, Powell stood beside his opposition to the contract, but regretted his choice of words.

“I made the comment that an employer’s function is not to simply provide jobs for individuals and that employees should earn ‘it’ (their salary). I stated the school system is not the welfare department, where people can ‘stay home, smoke dope and make babies,’” Powell wrote in a letter to the editor, which is published in today’s Times-Journal. “While I was emphasizing the point of the disparities in the contract, I did generalize those on welfare unfairly and certainly meant no disrespect for those who are in need.”

The board is scheduled to hold their next official school board meeting Thursday, Dec. 9

The Times-Journal’s Leesha Faulkner contributed to this report.