news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The head custodian at Northern Guilford High who resigned amid an investigation into the school’s athletics program has rescinded that resignation, setting up a possible legal showdown with Guilford County Schools.

Louis Lawson, one of three Northern employees who resigned on April 10 — the day school system officials announced they were investigating the school — said Saturday school officials “interrogated” him for several hours over three days before giving him a choice: resign or be fired. Lawson said he resigned under the stress of several lengthy interviews.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” he said. “They can’t get me for job performance. They can’t get me for attendance. So I’ve decided to let them fire me.”

David Brown, Lawson’s attorney, said Saturday he is waiting to hear from the school system about whether Lawson can return to work. He declined to outline his next step if the school system fires Lawson, but he did not rule out a lawsuit.

“If he’s fired, we’ll have to consider all our options including that, but it’s certainly not my intent to force that,” Brown said.
Jill Wilson, the school system’s attorney, could not be reached on Saturday.

Brown, who has done legal work for Northern basketball coach Stan Kowalewski, said last week he told school system officials Lawson would resign provided the resignation letter include a seven-day period for Lawson to reconsider.

Lawson said he informed school system officials of his latest decision on Thursday, a day before the resignation would have been permanent.

Lawson’s account of the investigation is the first public word by the Northern employees who resigned. Principal Joe Yeager and Athletics Director Derrell Force quit the same day as Lawson.

Sources have told the News & Record that the school system’s investigation centers on Northern’s football, boys basketball and baseball programs.

Lawson said he was met at Northern by Wilson and Shirley Morrison, the school system’s executive director of human resources, on the morning of April 7. He said he was escorted out the back of the school and taken downtown to the school system’s headquarters on Eugene Street, where Wilson, Morrison and others questioned him for five hours.

He said he was asked about the living arrangements for specific boys on the basketball team and about several transfer students on the baseball and football teams.

“They asked me questions about the football team, the basketball team and what I knew about the baseball team,” said Lawson, who declined to name the students brought up in the questioning. “I told them I didn’t know anything. How would I know about anything about them? I’m a custodian.”

Lawson said he was taken back downtown two days later and was asked to turn in his school keys and school system badge. He said Wilson and Morrison said he could not leave the room nor could he have a lawyer present during the interview.

Lawson said he believes he was questioned because his son, Jacob Lawson, was the starting center for Northern’s 3-A state championship basketball team this season.

In August, Jacob Lawson, who played AAU basketball for Kowalewski, transferred to Northern while his family still lived in Caswell County. Two weeks before school started, Yeager hired Louis Lawson as head custodian, which enabled his son to attend Northern.

In March, when the News & Record detailed how Jacob Lawson and other basketball players had transferred to Northern, Kowalewski and Force said school system officials had reviewed the transfer and found no wrongdoing.

Louis Lawson said Saturday he applied to several Guilford County schools before being hired at Northern.

“I could care less if my son ever bounces a basketball again,” he said. “I came (to Northern) to advance my career (and) to make sure my kid gets a good education. I want him to go to a college where he can get a education and get a job. None of this was for basketball.”

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com