STATE OF ALABAMA

COUNTY OF CALHOUN

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT made and entered into as of the day of May, 2019, by and
between ANNISTON CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION, {the "Board"), and DR. DONNA RAY HILL,
(the "Superintendent").

WHEREAS, the Board desires to enter into an employment relationship with the
Superintendent on certain terms and conditions as set forth herein; and

WHEREAS, the Superintendent is willing to accept such employment;

NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto, in consideration of the mutual covenants and
promises hereinafter contained, do hereby agree as follows:

1. Employment. The Board hereby employs Superintendent in the capacity of

superintendent of the Anniston City Schools, or in such other position of the same or greater
stature as the Board may direct or desire, and Superintendent hereby accepts the employment, on
the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth.

2. Duties. The Superintendent's principal duties and responsibilities will be as follows:

a. To act as the Superintendent of Education of The Anniston City Schools, as

prescribed by the laws of the State of Alabama and by the rules and regulations
made thereunder and from time to time hereafter by the Board, Including but not
limited to §16-11-1et. seq. and §16-12-1, et. seq., Code of Alabama.

b. To serve as chief administrative officer and executive officer of the Anniston City
Schools. As set forth in §16-1-30, Code of Alabama, the Board shall determine and
establish policies for the conduct and management of the Anniston City Schools;
and, as set forth In §16-12-15, Code of Alabama, Superintendent shall be
responsible for the implementation and administration of such policies as the Board
shall establish.

Superintendent shall have the freedom to organize, reorganize and arrange the
administrative and supervisory staff of the district in a manner, which in his
judgment best serves the Anniston City Schools. The administration of instruction
and business affairs shall be vested in the Superintendent and administered by him
with the assistance of his staff. Superintendent shall have responsibility for
selection, placement and transfer of personnel, he shall be responsible for initiation
of all personnel matters, which require action by the board, which includes making
recommendations to the board concerning the termination, transfer or discharge of
any personnel.

The Board shall have primary responsibility for formulating and adopting policies.
Superintendent shall be the chief administrative officer for the Anniston City

Employment Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill Page 1
 Schools, and shall have primary responsibility for implementation of Board policy.
The parties agree, individually and collectively not to interfere with or usurp the
duties or responsibilities of the other party. The board, individually and collectively,
will promptly refer all criticisms, complaints and suggestions call to its attention to
Superintendent for action and/or recommendations as appropriate.

Nothing in this contract shall expand the authority, duties and responsibilities of
Superintendent pursuant to §16-12-1 et.seq., Code of Alabama.

c. To perform such other services and duties as may be assigned to him from time to
time by the Board and to devote substantially his full time, energies and best efforts
to the performance thereof to the exclusion of all other activities, except any other
activities as the Board may consent to in writing.

3. Term. The term of employment shall begin on June 1, 2019, and continue until May 3 1 ,
2022, or until otherwise terminated as herein provided. The term of this agreement may be further
extended by mutual agreement of the Board and Superintendent. The Board shall give written
notice to Superintendent six (6) months In advance of the expiration of this contract if it Is the
Board's intention not to renew the contract with Superintendent. Failure to give such notice
automatically extends the contract for a period one (1) year.

4. Salary and Other Compensation. As compensation for the services to be rendered

by the Superintendent to the Board pursuant to this Agreement, the Board shall pay Superintendent
the following compensation and other benefits:

a. Salary. Superintendent shall be paid Eleven Tliousand Five Hundred Fifty Two
and 75/100 ($11,552.75) per month, payable in equal monthly installments in
arrears, or such higher compensation as may be established by an increase In the
State salary matrix. The board shall review said salary as a part of its annual review
of the Superintendent's performance.

b. Employee Benefit Plans. The Superintendent shall be eligible to participate, to the

extent he may be eligible, in any profit sharing, retirement, insurance or other
employee benefit plan maintained by the Board.

c. Health Care Supplement. The Board will pay Superintendent as a supplement

$260.00 per month toward paying for health care insurance over and above the
basic coverage provided by PEEHIP which is the amount sufficient to reimburse
Superintendent for family coverage, including vision and dental.

d. Sick Leave. Superintendent shall be entitled to sick leave as allowed certified

employees under State law.

e. Personal LeaveA/acatlon. Superintendent shall be entitled to fifteen (15) working

days of personal/vacation leave annually. Superintendent can accumulate a
maximum of thirty (30) unused days of personal leave/vacation during the effective
period of this contract. At the expiration or termination of this contract or an

Employment Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill Page 2
 extension thereof, Superintendent shall be paid for accumulated personal
leave/vacation up to, but not to exceed thirty (30) days. The rate of pay for said
unused personal leave/vacation shall be the Superintendent's rate of pay.

f. Professional Leave. The Board may grant Superintendent professional leave at its
discretion upon request of Superintendent.

g. Travel Allowance. The Board shall reimburse Superintendent for automobile

expense allowance for the purpose of covering all local travel expenses, as outlined
by existing board policy, and for other travel expense associated with his duties in
an amount not exceeding $10,500 per year.

h. Civic Organizations. The Board encourages Superintendent to assume an active

role in local community and civic organizations. The Board shall reimburse
Superintendent for memberships in such organizations, said amount not to exceed
$2,000.00 per year during the term of this agreement. Superintendent shall submit
requests for said reimbursement in writing to the Finance Office within ten (10) days
from receipt of an invoice from the community or civic organization.

i. Moving Allowance/Temporary Housing. The Board shall reimburse Employee

up to the sum of $6000.00 as a supplement to cover his expenses for moving to
Anniston, temporary storage expenses, and other expenses associated with getting
situated in the community to assume his duties pursuant to the this agreement.
Employee shall submit documentation of his moving expenses to the Board.

The Board shall also reimburse Superintendent for his cost of temporary housing
in the district for a period of up to six (6) months from the beginning of this contract
or until the Superintendent has moved into permanent housing, whichever comes
first; in a reimbursement not to exceed $9000.00.

j. Other Expenses. The Board shall pay, or reimburse the Superintendent, for other
reasonable and necessary business expenses of the Superintendent, upon whtten
request by Superintendent and approval by the Board.

5. Professional Certification and Responsibilities of Superintendent:

a. Certification: Superintendent shall secure and maintain a valid and appropriate

certificate to act as Superintendent of the Anniston City School System in
accordance with the laws of the State of Alabama.

b. Outside Activities: Superintendent shall devote all of the Superintendent's time,

attention, knowledge and skills solely and exclusively to the business and interest
of the Board of Education and the Anniston School System. Superintendent may,
however, undertake consulting work, speaking engagements, writing, lecturing or
other activities that require Superintendent to be absent from the school district, but
any such proposed absence must be submitted to the Board President in advance
for approval. The determination by the Board of Education as to whether such other

Employment Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill Page 3
 work or activities interfere with the discharge of Superintendent's duties and
responsibilities hereunder shall be conclusive.

c. Professional Growth: Superintendent shall be encouraged to attend those

professional meetings as are approved by the Board. The Board shall permit
Superintendent a reasonable amount of leave time for Superintendent to attend
professional meetings and pay for the necessary fees for travel and subsistence
expense as the Board deems reasonable and appropriate. Such leave time should
not, however, exceed fifteen (15) work days per year without the express approval
of the Board President.

d. Professional Organizations: The board shall pay one hundred percent (100%) of
Superintendent's membership fees to the American Association of School
Administrators and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

e. Evaluation: The Superintendent will submit to a professional evaluation on an

annual basis in a manner determined by the Board. Superintendent performance
will be evaluated based on criteria including, but not limited to, statewide and
national assessment data, graduation rates, outside evaluation using state
approved evaluation instruments and board led evaluation.

6. Professional Liability: The Board agrees, to the extent allowed by law, that it shall
defend, hold harmless, and indemnify Superintendent from any and all demands, claims, suits,
actions and legal proceedings brought against Superintendent in his individual capacity, or in his
official capacity as agent and Superintendent of the Board, provided the incident or cause of action
arose while Superintendent was acting within the line and scope of his employment and excluding
criminal litigation. In no event, however, will the individual Board Members be considered
personally liable for indemnifying Superintendent against such demands, suits, claims, actions or
legal proceedings.

The Board shall not be required to pay any cost of any legal proceeding in the event the
Board and Superintendent have adverse interests in litigation between the parties. If the Board and
Superintendent are both named as defendants in a lawsuit and if a conflict of interest exists that
requires and necessitates employment of separate counsel, then the Board may in its discretion
pay for the reasonable legal costs incurred by the Superintendent.

7. Termination. Employment of the Supenntendent under this Agreement will be

terminated:

a. By the Superintendent's death.

b. If the Superintendent is Totally Disabled. For the purposes of this Agreement, the
Superintendent will be Totally Disabled if he (1) has been declared legally
incompetent by a final court decree (the date of such decree being deemed to be
the date on which the disability occurred), (2) receives disability insurance benefits
from any disability income insurance policy maintained by the Board for a period of
12 consecutive months, or (3) has been found to be disabled pursuant to a Disability
Determination. A Disability Determination means a finding that the Superintendent,

Employment Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill Page 4
 because of a medically determinable disease, injury, or other mental or physical
disability, is unable to perform substantially all of his regular duties to the Board and
that such disability is determined or reasonably expected to last at least 12 months.
The Disability Determination shall be based on the written opinion of the physician
regularly attending the Superintendent whose disability is in question. If the Board
disagrees with the opinion of this physician (the "First Physician"), it may engage
at its own expense another physician (the "Second Physician") to examine the
Superintendent. If the First and Second Physicians agree in writing that the
Superintendent is or is not disabled, their written opinion shall, except as otherwise
set forth in this subsection, shall be conclusive on the issue of disability. If the First
and Second Physicians disagree on the disability of the Superintendent, they shall
choose a third consulting physician (whose expense shall be borne by the Board),
and the written opinion of a majority of these three physicians shall, except as
otherwise provided in this subsection, be conclusive as to the Superintendent's
disability. The date of any written opinion conclusively finding the Superintendent
to be disabled is the date of which the disability will be deemed to have occurred.
If there is a conclusive finding that the Superintendent is not Totally Disabled, the
Board shall have the right to request additional Disability Determinations provided
it agrees to pay all the expenses of the Disability Determinations and does not
request an additional Disability Determination more frequently than once every 24
months. In conjunction with a Disability Determination, the Superintendent hereby
consents to any required medical examination, and agrees to furnish any medical
information requested by any examining physician and to waive any applicable
physician-patient privilege that may arise because of such examination. All
physicians except the First Physician must be board-certified in the specialty most
closely related to the nature of the disability alleged to exist.

c. By mutual agreement of the Superintendent and the Board.

d. By the Board Without Cause. The Board may, at its option, unilaterally terminate
this Contract upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the Board at a regular or
special meeting of the Board by giving the Employee written notice of unilateral
termination. In the event of such termination, the Board shall pay to the Employee,
upon execution of a mutually acceptable release, severance pay the equivalent of
one year of the Employee's current Base Salary plus benefits or the balance due
on the Contract, whichever is less, and accrued vacation time.

e. By the Board for Just Cause. For purposes of this Agreement "Just Cause" shall mean
only the following:

(i) a conviction of or a plea of guilty or nolo contendere by the

Superintendent to a felony or misdemeanor involving fraud,
embezzlement, theft, or dishonesty or other criminal conduct,
(ii) habitual neglect of the Superintendent's duties or failure by the
Superintendent to perform or observe any substantial lawful obligation
of such employment,
(iii) incompetency,
(iv) insubordination, - . : ^

Employment Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill Page 5
 (v) misconduct in office, or
(vi) any material breacin by ttie Superintendent of this Agreement.

Prior to his/her dismissal, the Employee shall have the right to written charges
against him/her, notice of hearing, and a full and fair hearing before the Board
as hereinafter set forth. If the Employee chooses to be accompanied by legal
counsel at this hearing, he/she will assume the cost of his/her legal expenses,
regardless of the outcome of the hearing.

If the Board proposes to discharge the Employee for cause, it shall notify the
Employee in writing of the proposed action. This written notification shall
include a complete and detailed statement of the reason or reasons for the
proposed termination. The Employee shall be placed on administrative leave
with pay as of the date of the notification. After receiving notice of termination,
the Employee shall notify the Board in writing within ten (10) days of his/her
desire to contest his/her proposed termination. Upon receipt of written
notification of the Employee's desire to contest his/her termination, the Board
shall notify the Employee of the date and place a hearing to be conducted as set
forth below. The Employee shall be entitled to have this hearing not less than
twenty (20) days and no more than thirty (30) days from the date of his/her
request for such a hearing. The hearing shall be conducted as follows:

The Board shall, within fourteen (14) days of the scheduled hearing, provide to
the Employee, or his/her designee: a copy of each document intended to be
used in support of each alleged reason for discharge; a list of witnesses who
may be called to testify at the hearing, and a brief description about which each
such witness is expected to testify. The Employee shall, within seven (7) days
of the scheduled hearing, provide to the Board, or its designee: a copy of each
document intended to be used in his/her defense; a list of witnesses who may
be called to testify at the hearing, and a brief description about which each such
witness is expected to testify.

The hearing will be held before at least a quorum of the entire membership of
the Board and the Employee. The Board and Employee shall be entitled to legal
counsel and shall have the right to cross examine adverse witnesses and
present witnesses and documentary evidence on their behalf. The employment
status of the Employee shall be determined by a majority of the entire
membership of the Board. The vote of each member shall be by public vote and
shall be recorded. A transcript of the record of the proceedings before the
Board shall be made available without charge to the Employee. The
Employee's administrative leave and the obligations of the Board shall cease
upon an adverse decision of the Board. The Employee shall have such legal
recourse and appeal rights as are provided to him/her by law, as to any adverse
decision by the Board.

8. Miscellaneous.

a. The Board shall provide Superintendent reasonable and appropriate technology

Employment Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill Page 6
 including the following: a preferred laptop, a celiular telephone, printer and
Internet hotspot. Other equipment will be provided upon Superintendent's
request and board approval.

b. Superintendent agrees to live in the Anniston city school district.

9. Waiver. A party's failure to insist on compliance or enforcement of any provision of

this Agreement, shall not affect the validity or enforceability or constitute a waiver of future
enforcement of that provision or of any other provision of this Agreement by that party or any other
party.

10. Governing Lav/. This Agreement shall in all respects be subject to, and governed
by, the iav/s of the State of Alabama.

11. Severability. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision in the Agreement

shall not in any v/ay affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision and this Agreement
shall be construed in all respects as if such invalid or unenforceable p.fovision had never been in
the Agreement.

12 Notice. Any and all notices required or permitted herein shall be deemed delivered
if delivered personally or if mailed by registered or certified mail to the Board at its principal place
of business and to the Superintendent at the address hereinafter set forth following the
Superintendent's signature, or at such other address or addresses as either party may hereafter
designate in v/riting to the other.

13. Assignment. This Agreement, together v/ith any amendments hereto, shall be
binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors,
assigns, heirs and personal representatives, except that the rights and benefits of either of the
parties under this Agreement may not be assigned v/ithout the prior written consent of the other
party

14. A m e n d m e n t s , This Agreement may be amended at any time by mutual consent

of the parties hereto, with any such amendment to be invalid unless in v/riting, signed by the Board
and the Superintendent.

15. Burden and Benefit. This Agreement shall be binding upon, and shall inure to the
benefit of, the Board and Superintendent, and their respective heirs, personal and legal
representatives, successors, and assigns.

16. References to Gender and Number Terms. In construing this Agreement,

feminine or number pronouns shall be substituted for those masculine in form and vice versa, and
plural terms shall be substituted for singular and singularfor plural in anyplace in which the context
so requires.

17. Headings. The various headings in this Agreement are inserted for convenience
only and are not part of the Agreement.

Employmen; Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill Page 7
 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Board and Superintendent have duly executed this
Agreement as of the day and year first above written,

A N N I S T O N CITY B O A ^ df EDUCATION

Bv: ROB ^Jii^0^9im^

^ 6 B ^ HOUSTON, Presid^t

WITNESS TO BOARD
Board Address for Notice Purposes:
P.O. Box 1500
Anniston, AL 36202

Superintendent: DR. DONNA RAY HILL

Address for Notice Purposes:

W I T N t S S TO Superintendent

Employment Agreement - Anniston City Board of Education/Dr. Donna Ray Hill

Page t