A day after a county judge affirmed his contract, long-time Rock Hill Schools Superintendent Lloyd Evans was back in his office on Friday.

"It feels good," he said, referring to a judge's decision that Evans' employment contract was valid. "I'm just happy to be back to work and trying to get some things done positively for the students and the district."

Evans said he does not know if the board will appeal the decision.

"Of course, they're saying they are surveying options, so I don't know what that may result," he said.

Evans' employment had been in question for months. In November 2003, shortly after an election changed the make-up of the Rock Hill Board, the outgoing board voted to offer Evans a five-year contract.

Shortly after the new school board took office in January, the board approved the hiring of an attorney to represent the board, separately from the existing board attorney and soon thereafter voted to non-renew Evans previous contract. The new board contended that the old board had erred in its extending the contract to Evans and thus the contract was no valid.

"Following the Feb. 25 meeting, which I did not attend, the next meeting after that, the board went into executive session and I asked to speak with them concerning my employment status," Evans said. "(Board President) Lavetta (Sites) told me that I didn't have an employment status because they had non-renewed my contract.

"She said, 'If you don't like it, get a lawyer and sue us,'" Evans said. "They wouldn't even talk to me about it. So I did file a suit, but they left me know option if I was going to be employed. I guess I could have laid down and played dead."

Last week, eight months after the lawsuit was first filed, both sides had settled down so that Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge Richard Walton could rule on the case. Walton's decision was that Evans' five-year contract was valid.

Evans said he thinks it is a shame that the district has had to foot the legal bill for what he still feels is a personal vendetta by members of the new board.

Evans said the district has already received nearly $100,000 in bills from the firm the board hired and all of the invoices have not yet been received.

"I don't like it and I really don't think the taxpayers should be paying it," he said. "I think the people that made the bill ought to pay it - Lavetta and whoever else was involved in it. The letter of engagement that I saw was signed only by Lavetta.

"I think they've spent enough money," Evans said. "They should have been spending it on the school district and the education of kids."

The dispute ultimately led to the responsibility for day-to-day operations to be transferred from the local board to the county school board. Evans and the Rock Hill local board will need to be reinstated by the county board.

Exactly when that may happen is not clear.

Evans said a good way to put the amount of money spent to defend the lawsuit in perspective was to compare it to something the county board approved last week - new reading textbooks for the K-5 students.

"That's the kind of thing I'm talking about," he said. "A new textbook series for the entire elementary school and they've thrown away that much on attorney fees."

Evans said on Friday he discussed some administrative matters with Harold "Bucky" Shafer, county superintendent who has been managing the day-to-day work in the Rock Hill district.

"I'd like to see the district get on with the business it was established for and that's to educate the children rather than fight and bicker among ourselves," he said. "I don't think it's going to happen immediately. I think it's going to take some time to develop before people start reestablishing trust."

The key to that, Evans said, is communication.

"People have to be willing to talk and understand one another's position otherwise things will not be able to operate Š harmoniously."