After speculation circulated online over the weekend about Orange Beach City Schools Superintendent Randy Wilkes being fired, district officials confirmed Monday morning he still holds the position.

Local attorney C.C. Dixon-Moreno posted on social media Sunday in a video that has 183,000 views, as of Monday afternoon, referencing a federal civil suit moving through the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama that names Orange Beach City Board of Education, Orange Beach City School District and Wilkes. In the video, she cites a Florida family with two children enrolled as non-residents that is suing the district on claims stemming from a bullying incident.

According to the suit, the family asked the school to separate their involved child from those involved. Two days later, both children were expelled on a claim that the child had participated in the bullying. The family sued the school board, district, superintendent and principal on 10 claims, including due process, First Amendment retaliation, breach of contract and defamation.

On June 11, Judge William H. Steele ruled on the defendants' motion to dismiss the case, granting it in part and denying it in part.

In the video, Dixon-Moreno said Wilkes is "now fired." The district says that is not true.

“Orange Beach City Schools wishes to address a false statement shared on social media claiming that Superintendent Randy Wilkes is no longer employed by the school system. That statement is not true. Mr. Wilkes has served as superintendent of Orange Beach City Schools since July 1, 2022, and he continues to serve the school system and community," OBCS said in a statement provided to GCM. "There is no investigation involving Mr. Wilkes or any matter related to his employment. Orange Beach City Schools remains proud of its continued progress, strong performance and commitment to serving students, families, staff and the community with excellence.”

While there is no confirmed internal investigation involving Wilkes personally, the district court denied dismissal of the due process claim, reasoning that even though enrollment as a non-resident student is discretionary, the school's own policy limits expulsion to specific listed reasons. This would be similar to an employee who can only be fired for cause. The ruling let most of the case move forward, with the main loss for the family being the state-law claims for money damages against the entity defendants.

Wilkes is named in the suit both individually and in his official capacity. This is a distinction that could require separate legal counsel, since individual-capacity claims aren't shielded by the sovereign immunity that protects the Board, and could expose him personally to damages if the family prevails.

Dixon-Moreno said her information came from a "privileged source" connected to the case.

"I’m comfortable with what I said publicly, but I’m not going to waive, characterize or expand on anything beyond that," she said.

“I can tell you that he is still superintendent of Orange Beach City Schools,” Alyssa Cherney, OBCS communications specialist, reiterated to GCM on Monday. “Our next board meeting is in July, so that’s where any conversations would come up, and that did not happen at our last board meeting.”

At the June 16 Orange Beach City Council meeting, residents raised concerns about the nature of the relationship between it and the city school board. Concerns were raised over transparency, but there was no mention of the lawsuit or the superintendent's employment status. Resident Rhonda Turley voiced disappointment with council in not reappointing Nelson Bauer to the school board; Clay Tindal was voted to fill his position instead.

"Everything happening sounds like everything has been behind closed doors," she said.

Councilman Robert Stuart responded by addressing Bauer, who had left the meeting by then, stating, “Nelson, the school board vote was never about you. What the vote did deal with was the council asked for information on the ACT scores, and the reason why the superintendent lied to me, as a sitting school board member, and to Jack Robertson, a city council member.”

According to Stuart, Wilkes had failed to provide information about students' ACT scores when he and other council members asked for them for a month.

When scores were provided at a June 11 school board meeting, Wilkes praised this year’s Orange Beach Middle/High School senior class, pointing out that 10 students had a composite ACT score (the score a student receives on a single test) of 30 or higher. He added that 114 juniors had an average composite ACT score of 20.6 this year. The previous year’s composite average was “19.4, 19.5.”

“According to some exit information, 86% of our senior class said it was going to a two- or four-year school,” he said. "So I want you to keep those numbers in mind as we continue to make decisions. Especially next month when we really need to look at our strategic plan.”

As first reported by Mobile-based Lagniappe, Stuart is one of three council members who have filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Tony Kennon for threatening his fellow elected officials for wanting to release body came footage pertaining to a Labor Day 2024 domestic incident his name has been connected to — which he denies involvement in — during an April 21 council meeting.

At a council meeting last week, Kennon nominated Bauer to fill a vacancy left on city council. The vote died without a majority in favor and Stuart among the majority against the nomination.

Wilkes is the first-ever superintendent of Orange Beach City Schools. He served as superintendent in Crenshaw County from 2011-2014 and in Phenix City, from 2014 to 2022.