LIBERTY &045; Fourth District Chancellor Hollis McGehee last month denied the Amite County School District’s request for a stay of former ACHS Principal Charlie Floyd’s reinstatement.

McGehee’s ruling cleared the way for Floyd to return to his job in July, according to Floyd’s attorney, Gregg Spyridon of Metairie, La.

&uot;Coach Floyd should be allowed to return (next week), if he chooses. I expect he will return, but that’s his decision,&uot; Spyridon said.

On Tuesday, Floyd attributed the development to the &uot;power of prayer,&uot; but said he had not yet decided if he’ll go back to his job.

Amite County School Superintendent Charles Kirkfield said interim ACHS Principal Estes Taplin would serve through the fall semester, unless Floyd returns.

Jackson attorney Jim Keith, who represents the school district, could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Floyd was suspended in October 2002 and later dismissed amid an investigation of alleged irregularities at ACHS, including unexplained changes to student grades and unauthorized fines for student tobacco use, among other allegations.

But in a four-day appeal hearing held in April 2003, no evidence was presented that Floyd changed any grades or urged others to do so.

It was also established in the hearings that the school’s tobacco policy pre-dated Floyd’s administration.

Still, the school board voted unanimously last July to uphold Floyd’s termination.

Floyd appealed that decision in Amite County Chancery Court, and the court ordered his reinstatement last October.

The school district had asked McGehee to stay Floyd’s reinstatement while it appealed the decision to the state supreme court.

But McGehee said Kirkfield’s testimony favored Floyd’s return, despite objections from a school board member.

&uot;In opposition to Superintendent Kirkfield’s position, we have the affidavit and deposition of a board member. However, it is painfully obvious that the superintendent is in a much better position to know the circumstances of the district, its personnel and its needs than a part-time board member,&uot; McGehee wrote.

The state Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the school district’s appeal, Spyridon said.

Meanwhile, Floyd’s $10 million lawsuit against the district and several of its officials is pending in federal court.

The suit, filed last Februrary in U.S. District Court in Jackson, names the Amite County School District and School Board, along with individual board members John Davis and Beachum Williams, ACHS special programs director Mary Russ and &uot;John Does 1-10&uot; as defendants.

Floyd’s suit, which represents one side of a legal argument, alleges the defendants made false accusations against him and wrongfully terminated him from his position as ACHS principal, causing him economic and emotional distress and damaging his reputation.

Floyd also alleges defendants ordered his family heirlooms and track accolades removed from his office at ACHS and destroyed. In April, defendants filed a response denying Floyd’s claims.