Crescent Superintendent Resigns Following Community Protest

The Crescent School Board accepted the resignation of its superintendent following a protest by community members calling for her to step down.

School board members announced they accepted the resignation of Dr. Courtney Knapp early Thursday morning after an executive session that lasted hours, according to people at the meeting. The resignation will be effective on June 30.

The announcement came after many parents and community members gathered outside Crescent Public Schools' administration building Wednesday afternoon for a peaceful protest. They were holding signs with messages such as, "Wake up Crescent. Knapp time is over."

Community members said they called for Knapp to resign due to poor leadership and communication, among other things.

"There were all these lockdowns without notifying parents, from a gun threat to an escaped convict that was going to come here and had ties to the community," said LD Johnson, who has two children in the district. "And we didn't know about these things as parents."

Community members said since Knapp took over as superintendent two years ago, nearly 50 staff members have quit, retired, or have been fired. Johnson said one of his children's teachers was among the departures.

"She quit halfway through the year at Christmas time and to that, I would say most people would call that a career suicide for a teacher. But she was so fed up with it," said Johnson.

Another employee's resignation letter described working at the district as feeling like "I was literally on a game of Survivor - outwit, outlast, outplay."

"If Ms. Knapp was still here to start the school year next year, I know the sophomore class and junior class are the ones I was told so far planned on first bell of the first day of school that they were going to walk out," said Robert Wright, who has three children in the district.

Parents said they were particularly upset with Knapp stripping the athletic director title from Coach Shawn Booth, who has been with the district for 21 years. According to Booth, Knapp told him she wanted a different contact. But Booth believed the reason was purely a personal one.

However, Booth said he was grateful for the community backing him.

"I'm just very, very thankful for all the amount of people that was there and the show of support that they did for me and the school," Booth told News 9.

News 9 called and emailed Knapp to ask for comment about the concerns from the community and about her resignation. But as of Thursday evening, she had not replied.

News 9 also reached out to every school board member. Two of them replied back, saying they had no comment because it was a personnel issue. Another person said she was no longer with the school board.

"This fight wasn't about getting someone fired or we're out on a witch hunt on some trumped-up charges and the court of public opinion," said Johnson. "This fight was about educators that shape our children's minds."