A three-hour hearing pertaining to the firing of former Otken Elementary School principal Camita Dillon was held behind closed doors Tuesday.
The proceedings began at 9 a.m. at the McComb School District administration building.
Under the rules for such proceedings, Dillon had the option of requesting an open or closed hearing and opted for the latter, her attorney Jim McCafferty said.
Terry Caves, an attorney from Laurel, is presiding over the hearing.
He will file a report documenting the testimony and evidence presented at the hearing, and the school board will use that to determine whether it should reconsider its decision.
“I am not a judge. This is not a ruling. This is just a hearing,” Caves said.
The school board fired Dillon in February after she reportedly gave a student liquid Motrin.
The student had recently had a tonsillectomy and was in pain.
The school nurse refused to give the student the prescribed medicine because the bottle it was in had already been opened.
Dillon said she gave the medicine after the student’s mother asked her to.
Dillon had already been suspended without pay for three days this school year for promoting 16 third-graders to the fourth grade, despite the fact that they had not met requirements for promotion.
The school board voted 4-1 after that hearing to uphold her suspension.
A hearing into her suspension two months ago was open to the public.
Dillon said told the Enterprise-Journal after her termination that she had intended to request a public hearing. Neither she nor her attorney offered an explanation Tuesday as to why she had apparently changed her mind.
