wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Review team calls Detterick's actions 'fully compliant'

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8633 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05062
February 1, 2005

Review team calls Detterick's actions 'fully compliant'

Committee upholds process for staff firings

by Toya Richards Hill and Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - The General Assembly Council (GAC) Personnel Subcommittee has
found that Executive Director John Detterick acted properly when he
terminated two high-level PC(USA) employees in November.

	"Having conducted a thorough evaluation, it was concluded that the
executive director acted in a manner that was fully compliant with the
applicable policies from the General Assembly Council Employee Handbook of
the PC(USA)," the subcommittee said in its report to the GAC Executive
Committee. 

	The GAC Executive Committee unanimously approved the report late
yesterday afternoon.

	The subcommittee's report was issued after a daylong meeting on Jan.
31 to review the procedures used by Detterick to dismiss GAC Deputy Executive
Director Kathy Lueckert and Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy
Coordinator Peter Sulyok. Lueckert was Sulyok's direct supervisor. 

	"We interviewed John Detterick and went over the entire record of the
process," the Rev. Paul Masquelier, vice chair of GAC and chair of the
Personnel Subcommittee, told the Presbyterian News Service.

	The subcommittee also heard directly from Sulyok, who was joined by
ACSWP Committee Chair Nile Harper and committee members.

	In a prepared statement issued this morning, Harper told the
Presbyterian News Service that ACSWP receives this decision with "great
sorrow and disappointment." It closed by saying that ACSWP believes "there
can be very little healing and reconciliation without justice in matters of
personnel policy."

	Harper's statement cited Sulyok's 11 performance evaluations, which
describe his work as "excellent" or "very good." It also called Lueckert a
"highly skilled, experienced and dedicated executive who served the GAC with
distinction and grace."

	Masquelier declined to disclose specific details of the subcommittee
meeting but did say there was no dissension on the decision.

	In November Detterick fired Lueckert and Sulyok following an ACSWP
fact-finding trip to the Middle East in which Lueckert and Sulyok
participated. That trip included a televised meeting with Hezbollah, which is
listed on the U.S. government's watch list of terrorist groups.

	The trip followed a controversial General Assembly action last July
to begin pressuring for corporate reform among multinational corporations
that profit from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza or that
enable either Palestinian or Israeli violence. If negotiations fail, the
216th General Assembly authorized its agencies to initiate a process of
targeted divestment.

	That action drew fire from the U.S. Jewish community.

	Detterick told the Presbyterian News Service, "I've not been able to
talk as openly as I would have liked" about the decision that was made. "But
I have felt all along that my actions were appropriate. ... 

	"I hope it's the beginning of a time when we can move forward and
focus on what we are called to do." 

	The text of the statements issued by both ACSWP and the Personnel
Subcommittee are printed below:

A First Response from the General Assembly Advisory Committee
on Social Witness Policy to GAC Executive Committee
Upholding Dismissals
February 1, 2005

	The decision of the GAC Personnel Committee, as confirmed by the GAC
Executive Committee, to uphold the action of John Detterick in dismissing
Peter Sulyok and Kathy Lueckert is received by ACSWP with great sorrow and
disappointment. ACSWP was informed of the decision late Monday evening.
	
	The Reverend Peter Sulyok is a skilled, experienced and dedicated
minister who has served the General Assembly Advisory Committee on Social
Witness Policy faithfully for twelve years. The outstanding service by Sulyok
is verified by the eleven work performance evaluations in which he was rated
"excellent" or "very good" by his supervisors. This evidence of his dedicated
ministry was presented by ACSWP in the review process on Monday.

	Kathy Lueckert is a highly skilled, experienced and dedicated
executive who has served the GAC with distinction and grace. She has been a
voice for the comprehensive vision of the church's mission that integrated
evangelism and justice, global and local outreach, spirituality and
compassion. Lueckert helped to bring a steady, stable and wise perspective
into the work of the General Assembly Council.

	ACSWP has not spoken out publicly until today, preferring to direct
its efforts toward the internal consultations and review processes that have
boon ongoing for the past three months since the October trip to the Middle
East. ACSWP representatives met with Detterick, Kirkpatrick and Ufford-Chase
in late November in Louisville to share information not previously known by
executives at the time of the dismissals.

	This consultation continued into December with two subsequent
conference phone calls that focused on ways of healing and reconciliation,
and eventually led to the review process that finally took place on Monday,
Jan. 31, in Louisville. ACSWP believes there can be very little healing and
reconciliation without justice in matters of personnel policy.

Nile Harper, Chairperson

Report of the Personnel Subcommittee
General Assembly Council Executive Committee
January 31, 2005

	Following a time of worship and prayer, on January 31, 2005, the
Personnel Subcommittee of the General Assembly Council's Executive Committee
met together in open session at the Presbyterian Center.  Those in attendance
were: Carol Adcock, Fran Calderwood, Charles Easley, Nancy Kahaian, Linda
Knieriemen, Paul Masquelier (Chair) and Allison Seed.  In response to the
request of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, they heard from
the following representatives of ACSWP: Sue Dickson, Esperanza Guajardo, Nile
Harper (Chair) and Ronald Stone.  At the request of ACSWP delegation, Peter
Sulyok (former Coordinator, ACSWP) accompanied them and addressed the
Sub-Committee.	

	The Personnel Subcommittee also interviewed John Detterick (Executive
Director of the GAC), Margaret Blenman (Associate Director of Human
Resources), Eric Graninger (General Counsel to the GAC) and Martha Clark
(Associate General Counsel to the GAC). 

	The Personnel Subcommittee met in order to review the process by
which the employment of Peter Sulyok and Kathy Lueckert was terminated and to
determine whether the process was consistent with the GAC's personnel
policies.  The committee reviewed all correspondence received from
individuals, groups, and governing bodies.  They also reviewed the General
Assembly Council Employee Handbook of the PC(USA).

	Having conducted a thorough evaluation, it was concluded that the
Executive Director acted in a manner that was fully compliant with the
applicable policies from the General Assembly Council Employee Handbook of
the PC(USA).  

	It is the recommendation of the Personnel Subcommittee that the
General Assembly Council Executive Committee prepare a pastoral letter to the
church encouraging a season of prayer, acknowledging that we are wholly
dependent upon God to continue the work of healing and reconciliation.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send an email to
pcusanews-subscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org or
pcusanews-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org

To contact the owner of the list, please send an email to
pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org