MASON — After just four months, Mason High School Principal Gerald Cox has left the job, is banned from school property and cannot talk with students or staff.

        Under a separation agreement approved by the Mason Board of Education at a special meeting Monday, Mr. Cox, 45, will be put on paid administrative leave todayuntil his July 31 resignation takes effect.

        In a one-sentence letter of resignation submitted Monday, Mr. Cox cited unspecified “personal and professional” reasons for his departure. Superintendent Kevin Bright declined to comment on Mr. Cox's departure or the reasons for it.

        “Any questions should be directed to Mr. Cox,” Mr. Bright said.

        Mr. Cox, who has been on paid sick leave since March 5, was not at Monday's meeting and did not return phone calls seeking comment. He has been principal of the 1,821-pupil Warren County high school since Nov. 1 and earned an annual salary of $92,500.

        The agreement calls for a $28,000 payment to Mr. Cox, requires the superintendent to provide a neutral letter of reference that includes only the position he held and his duties, and removes the separation agreement from his personnel file.

        A letter announcing Mr. Cox's resignation was mailed to high school parents Monday.

        Associate Principal Sally Shields has been named interim principal until the board hires a new principal. Ms. Shields was hired as an assistant principal at the school in 1998. She was appointed associate principal last August. The search for a new principal begins today.

        A month after his arrival, Mr. Cox drew the ire of students and some parents when he proposed 16 rules for the high school that included a stricter dress code, requiring students to learn the school song, and mandating which direction students could walk in the hallways.

        Following several community and school meetings, an 18-member committee of students, parents and educators discarded nine of the proposed rules and left the dress code as it was except to ban dangling chains.

        All five Mason Board of Education members refused comment Monday.

Allen asks for details on priests
Image campaign, lawsuit aim to turn back boycott
Police review panel suspends operations
Summer job forecast is sunny for teens
PULFER: Gamesmanship
RADEL: Find yourself
Some Good News
Board bans principal from school
Jury room leaks sound, Butler officials told
Ohio's aviation coin unveiled
Schools: Giving old buildings new life
Arrest made in rape of girl, 11
Deaths of 6 students hit BGSU campus
Convention center deal fine-tuned
Franklin woman indicted in theft
Indictment challenged in cemetery-fund trial
Olympic bid group returns $37.5K to Ohio
Service goes beyond food
Witness says he gave Traficant money for boat
Callahan revises gambling proposal
Floods strike eastern Kentucky
Navy's 'Mom Kaye' keeps tradition of shipping gifts
UK begins Parkinson's treatment
Tristate A.M. Report