Peccia, Reese Leaving BCPS

Two former top school officials are leaving the system after being

The Baltimore Sun reports that the school board voted to approve the resignation of former Chief Communications Officer Phyllis Reese and former Assistant Superintendent of the Department of Human Resources Don Peccia—effective Aug. 1— Tuesday night.

The resignation and retirement were not discussed during the open session of the school board meeting, which started around 7 p.m. The board had met earlier in the evening for a closed session. However, a vote for "consideration of actions taken in closed session" was approved during the open session.

D. Mychael Dickerson, the former executive director of policy, communications and outreach of Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia, was approved for the position of chief communications officer Tuesday following Dance's recommendation. Dickerson, like Dance, earned a degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, according to the GReat Aspirations Scholarship Program, Inc. website. He is listed as a director for the education nonprofit.

The assistant superintendent of the department of human resources job remains open.

Controversy surrounding Peccia and Reese arose last month when Dance made the decision to reassign the former senior officials to the of high school teacher and copy and print specialist respectively. Had they remained in those jobs, the two would have continued to make six-figure salaries as per the contracts they signed under former Superintendent Joe Hairston. The board was unaware of these contracts, President Larry Schmidt