After 'retiring' from Grant School District, Louis Dix in hunt for Myrtle Point superintendent job

Some school board members pointed to a contentious performance evaluation given in December, at the six-month mark of Dix’s employment with the district, as a possible contributor to Dix’s decision to retire. One board member called it “a hit job.”

Dix downplayed any conflict with the board during a Jan. 23 interview with the Eagle, saying it was “the right time” for him to retire.

Now, however, Dix appears to have other plans.

Early this month, the Myrtle Point School District in Southwest Oregon announced Dix as the lone finalist for its open superintendent position. The district invited the public to a “meet and greet” reception with Dix on Friday, March 10.

According to a Myrtle Point teacher who attended the reception and asked to remain anonymous, a number of local residents questioned Dix about his impending departure from the Grant School District out of concern over how long they could expect him to remain in the Myrtle Point superintendent job.

The teacher said they contacted the Eagle about the matter because statements Dix made at the reception were markedly different from what the newspaper published about his retirement from the Grant School District.

In Myrtle Point, the teacher said, Dix told residents he had gotten into what he described as “an altercation” with one of the Grant School Board members which led to Dix saying something like, “Maybe I should just retire.” Dix then accused a school board member of leaking his comments to the newspaper and accused the Eagle of twisting his words, saying he never had any intention of retiring, according to the teacher.

The teacher said Dix then stressed that he does not plan on retiring and that many people in Grant County are begging him to remain.

Those statements are in stark contrast to what Dix said in his Jan. 23 interview with this newspaper. In that interview, Dix never mentioned an altercation with a school board member as a reason for leaving his job as superintendent of the Grant School District.

He specifically denied that the performance evaluation had any impact on his decision, telling the newspaper that “I just felt like this is the right time for me to retire in my life and in my career.”

He said that he had been considering retiring for a couple of years and went into considerable detail about what he planned to do in retirement, from spending more time with his wife and family to traveling and serving as a wrestling coach.

Dix also stressed that he got along well with members of the school board and that a rocky working relationship with board members or Grant School District administrators wasn’t a factor in his decision to retire.

He said nothing in that interview about a board member leaking his statements or anyone twisting his words about his retirement plans. (In fact, Dix’s plans to retire were listed as a discussion topic on the agenda for the board’s Jan. 18 meeting.)

The teacher said some within the Myrtle Point community feel like they’ve been told some “untruths” by Dix.

When asked this week to comment on the teacher’s allegations, Dix said he had changed his mind about retirement. He also stressed that the Myrtle Point school board had inaccurate information regarding his employment status with the Grant School District.

Dix declined to explain why he told people in Myrtle Point that he’d had an altercation with a Grant School Board member that led to his retirement after insisting to this newspaper that no such conflict with the board was present.

When asked about the identity of the board member he had an altercation with, Dix responded, “That’s confidential.”

The Eagle has recordings of both its interviews with Dix.

Shortly after Dix announced his retirement plans at the Jan. 18 Grant School Board meeting, Chair Haley Walker and board member Aaron Lieuallen announced their resignations. Neither has responded to requests from the Blue Mountain Eagle for comment on why they resigned.

The Myrtle Point School Board was scheduled to meet in executive session on Monday, March 13, to “consider the employment of public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent.”

The Grant School Board meets on Wednesday, March 15, to decide what direction to go regarding Dix’s employment with the Grant School District moving forward.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Grant School District office, 401 N. Canyon Blvd. in Canyon City.