Dive Brief:

• The reinstatement of Wyoming State Superintendent Cindy Hill has resulted in at least five staff resignations, including the departure of Richard Crandall, who was appointed by the governor to fill Hill's role after a law took away her authority last summer.  
• Last year, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead signed a bill removing Hill from her elected position, claiming she mismanaged education funds. In January, the state Supreme Court, however, declared the legislation unconstitutional and she was reinstated last Friday.  
• Hill has been a contentious character in the state's government due to her push to make employees fireable without cause and the department's high turnover rate.  

Dive Insight:

With any new boss or shift in power, there are bound to be a few resignations. All in all, this isn't too surprising. The Wyoming Department of Education has around 140 staff members, so five exits are hopefully not going to rock the boat too much. That said, the resignations have included high-profile employees like Richard Crandall, who has been acting as director of the department, and David Holbrook, who was the division director and in charge of receiving the Elementary and Secondary Education Act's federal grant.  

At the end of the day, the employees who are deciding to leave are getting to make that decision. When Hill was stripped of her power last summer, she had no say in the matter despite the fact that she had been elected by the public. 

It is also difficult to discern which rumors about Hill's poor management style are real and which were pushed out by the republican governor and his team when they held the hearings to remove the Tea Party-backed candidate from office.