LEWISBURG — There was no action taken by the Greenbrier Board of Education regarding Gov. Jim Justice’s grievance over not being hired as Greenbrier East High School’s boys basketball coach.
The governor requested a hearing in his grievance, which limited the action the board could take during the Friday afternoon meeting in the Kyle & Ann Fort Arts & Sciences Center, on the Lewisburg campus of New River Community and Technical College.
Superintendent Jeff Bryant declined to comment about the grievance after Friday’s meeting.
Justice’s grievance hearing had not been scheduled as of Friday, said Steve Ruby, one of the attorneys representing Justice in his grievance case.
The board originally was set to meet for a student hearing but added a discussion of the governor’s grievance to their agenda Wednesday.
The board met in executive session with Greenbrier County Schools general counsel Jason Long. They didn’t discuss the matter or vote on anything related to the grievance or the Greenbrier East boys basketball job.
The board heard comments from one person on the matter.
Retired lawyer Brentz Thompson addressed the board to say he was sorry the board was in an “awkward” and “embarrassing” situation, and he said the only people to blame were Justice and Bryant.
“The governor has been bullying the board, quite frankly, in my opinion and in the opinion of people in the community I talked to,” Thompson said. “This is not right.”
Thompson previously worked as an assistant prosecutor in Fayette County, an assistant attorney general and as general counsel for the West Virginia Board of Education and, briefly, in the West Virginia Legislature.
“I think that, as a taxpayer, it’s ridiculous to have him asking to be boys basketball coach, which is a position that requires a constant presence with the boys that are on the team,” Thompson said.
Also attending the meeting was attorney Booth Goodwin. Board member Rick Parker asked Goodwin to attend the meeting to guarantee board members would have conflict-free legal representation.
Goodwin said board members weren’t sure if Jason Long is related to Justice’s son-in-law, Adam Long. Goodwin confirmed that Jason and Adam Long are not related, but he remained at the meeting until the executive session had ended.
“I’m always happy to come,” said Goodwin, who recently represented Virginia-based Carter Bank in a case brought by Justice. The parties settled that case last month.
The Gazette-Mail obtained a copy of the letter in a Freedom of Information Act request filed Aug. 26 with Greenbrier County Schools.
In the grievance and the letter, Carey touts Justice’s coaching record.
Carey said in the grievance that failing to select a candidate who “is by far the most qualified — whether out of personal animus, political opposition, or any other reason — is arbitrary and capricious.”
The difference between the letter and the grievance is that the letter goes on to suggest legal action if the board didn’t support Justice as the boys basketball coach.
“It would produce nothing but swift and public embarrassment in the courts — an outcome that no one desires,” he wrote. “I urge the Board to discharge its duty next week and approve, as it must, the candidate who is objectively the most qualified for the job.”
The governor used the last minutes of the briefing that day to respond to the board’s vote, saying “everyone unanimously recommended me for the job.” He said the board’s vote “came down with just that ugliness of personal preference or political preference.”
Justice remains the head coach of Greenbrier East’s girls basketball team.
Bryant’s recommendation to hire Justice as the boys coach first appeared on the board’s Aug. 11 agenda.
The board voted to delay its consideration of the matter but, that same day, Justice gave an interview in which he implied that his hiring as coach was a foregone conclusion.
He told MetroNews that his age and job duties as governor would require assistants to carry much of the coaching load.
“At my age, I’ll have to have great assistant coaches. And to be perfectly honest, they’ll have to do the work. I’ll coach the game,” Justice told MetroNews.
On Aug. 17, Greenbrier East Principal Ben Routson released a statement saying Justice had been the “obvious choice” among the hiring panel, which included Routson, Assistant Principal David Vincent and Athletic Director Jason Steward.
People also have raised ethical concerns about the matter, since Bryant is the entertainment director at The Greenbrier resort, which Justice owns, and board president Jeannie Wyatt’s husband is the owner of Greenbrier Photography, which leases business space in The Greenbrier.
During a board meeting Monday, about a dozen people, most of whom were employed by Justice or worked with him at Greenbrier East, praised Justice’s coaching abilities, as well as the former billionaire’s charity in paying for hotel stays and meals when players competed in out-of-state tournaments.
Bryant has not made any other recommendation for the Greenbrier East coaching position since former boys coach Bimbo Coles resigned in July.
Greenbrier BOE takes no action while governor's grievance is pending - Charleston Gazette-Mail
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