Douglas superintendent to resign voluntarily

Superintendent Keith Lewis and the Douglas County School Board will part ways Wednesday under an agreement proposed on the school board agenda.

Douglas County School Board trustees will meet 11:30 a.m. Nov. 1 at the Airport Training Center.

Superintendent separation agreement

“Superintendent Lewis seeks this approval voluntarily and warrants that he is doing so on his own free will and that he has not been coerced into making this request,” according to the agenda.

According to the Nov. 1 agenda posted to the Douglas County School District website on Thursday, Lewis has agreed that after the approval of the severance agreement by the board, Lewis will resign his position as superintendent effective immediately.

Under the agreement Lewis will refrain from participating in any effort to recall the existing trustees, with the exception of his right to vote during a recall election, for a period of three years.

He also agrees not to have contact with any officers or employees of the school district for the purpose of interfering with the trustee’s efforts to direct the operations of the district.

“The parties in this agreement desire to settle and resolve their differences including, but not limited to, all matters pertaining to or arising from Lewis’ employment from the district and his termination from his position with the district.”

He will receive PERS benefits and be accepted by the Public Employee’s Retirement System, so that Lewis will be able to retire with 30 years of public service.

Lewis has worked for the district since 1995 when he was hired as an elementary school physical education teacher. When Pinion Hills Elementary School opened, he worked there for nine years before becoming assistant principal at Carson Valley Middle School.

He was principal at Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School before being named HR Director.

He was named superintendent in May 2020 in the depths of the coronavirus outbreak.

In the event that Superintendent Lewis' voluntary resignation is approved, the board will appoint the next most senior executive director as the acting superintendent until the board can appoint a new superintendent.