Palmyra School Board votes not to renew contract of Southers as teacher, girls basketball coach

PALMYRA, Mo. — The state of flux the Palmyra High School athletic department finds itself in continued Tuesday night when the school board voted unanimously to not renew the contract of Tim Southers as both a teacher and the varsity girls basketball coach.

Southers was informed at noon Tuesday both of his positions would be considered for renewal by the board. Southers asked if he could address the board during its monthly meeting, which he was allowed to do and spoke prior to the board voting in closed session.

The vote was 7-0.

Southers said he recently received his year-end teaching evaluation, which said he was going to have his teaching contract renewed.

“I can definitely say I in no way acted in a manner that anyone could ever question my integrity or character as a coach,” Southers said.

Southers had been at Palmyra for two years, the first as an assistant boys basketball coach on Brian Rea’s staff and last season as the girls basketball coach.

He led the Panthers to a 21-7 record, a second-place finish in the Clarence Cannon Conference and a district championship game appearance, where Palmyra fell to South Shelby.

This move comes less than three weeks after the board accepted the resignations of four football coaches who were found to have used school-issued electronic devices to conduct vulgar, homophobic and insensitive text conversations.