ALBEMARLE — One day after being placed on paid leave, Stanly County Schools Deputy Superintendent Vicki Calvert officially resigned from her role in the school system, the district confirmed Monday.
“Deputy Superintendent Vicki Calvert has resigned from her position at Stanly County Schools effective May 29, 2021,” SCS Superintendent Dr. Jarrod Dennis wrote in a statement to SCJ, following an emergency school board meeting on Monday morning.
A day prior, the school district announced that Calvert had been reprimanded with a suspension from her duties, pending an investigation into her conduct at South Stanly High School’s graduation ceremony on Friday.
“I do want to apologize to those in attendance Friday night at South Stanly High School’s graduation,” Dennis’ statement continued. “High School graduation is a special event for our seniors, their families, and the school staff. Obviously, Friday night’s graduation did not live up to my expectations or those of Stanly County Schools.”
A local source who attended the event told SCJ that Calvert’s speech to the crowd that night was “rambling and lengthy.” Calvert’s speech performance received further public criticism when a video of the segment was posted on a public Facebook account on Saturday night.
“From my understanding this is somewhat out of character for her,” the owner of the account posted along with the video. “Nonetheless she still made an awkward situation for her peers and embarrassed the entire graduating class of 2021 at SSHS.”
Some commenters speculated that Calvert was inebriated during the event.
“The video is much easier to hear than it was in person but it’s still a mess,” another user said. “In the stands we thought the speech had ended several times and that’s why we kept clapping but then she would start to speak again.”
Following last year’s departure of Dr. Jeff James, a former superintendent for SCS, Calvert began a role as the school district’s interim superintendent on July 1 until Dr. Dennis began his superintendent position on Nov. 2. Calvert had previously worked as the county’s assistant superintendent of personnel and student services as well as a teacher at Aquadale Elementary School.