Will It Go 'Round in Circles - Super Long Play

Someone commented that they read through my archives and still could not figure out what the full story was regarding my friend, Greg, and the garbage happening at my kids school. I will use this post to clarify, point by point, what has happened up to this point and include the latest developments. I apologize now for the length of this post, but many of you have commented to me publicly and privately that you would like to know the story.

This situation sickens my stomach, and this probably explains why I'm not eating well and have lost several pounds in the last few weeks. I will not, however, back down from this fight. My kids have the right to a quality public education, and my friend needs to know that I am loyal and will always have his back. I will use real first names to help make the cast of characters easier to identify:

Greg: 8th grade Language Arts teacher
Debbi: Greg's wife, kindergarten teacher at our school
Teresa: 8th grade Science teacher
Charlene: 8th grade Social Studies teacher
Tina: 8th grade Math teacher
Kathi: school principal
Chuck: Associate Superintendent of Human Resources
Connie: Associate Superintendent of Education Services (Kathi's boss)

• April 2007 - Kathi asks Greg to leave his 5th grade position to teach LA in the 8th grade in the new school year. Tells him that they need "loosening up" in that grade and that the kids need his leadership.
• May 2007 - Greg voices his concerns to Kathi, telling her that he won't be well received by Tina and Charlene. Kathi tells him she knows that but she needs him to go up there and be the role model; she'll back him up on this.
• Summer 2007 - Greg again voices his concerns to Kathi; she again tells him she will give him her full support in strengthening the 8th grade teaching team
• August 2007 - Greg begins teaching 8th grade LA; Tina and Charlene do not make him feel welcome. Teresa is hired; feels "outcast" by Tina and Charlene and goes to Greg for advice. Pours her heart out to him about her troubled past and attempts to buddy up to him. Greg, trying to make a connection with her, lets her know that he, too, has been outcast by the other teachers, and he just wants to do his job and work with the kids. Teresa runs back to Charlene and Tina, telling them Greg thinks Charlene and Tina are bitches and won't work with them.
• Meanwhile, Teresa is discovered to be a reject teacher from two other schools. She frequently shows up for class unprepared. She speaks to the students in a condescending tone and uses swear words. She shows them her tattoos and body piercings, touches the students, invades their personal space, and uses racial epithets.
• October 3, 2007 - Greg calls me at 9:00 a.m., just after school has started, asking me to come to his class immediately; he tells me that he feels he is about to fired because of a verbal confrontation with Charlene and Tina during a grade level staff meeting (at which Kathi was also present). We talk for several minutes about what he should do if he's called into Kathi's office to discuss the situation.
  
• October 3, 2007, 1:00 p.m. - School was dismissed at 12:20 for a scheduled Staff Development day. Greg, having been called into a meeting with Kathi to discuss the latest argument, is met by the other 8th grade teachers outside of his classroom after his meeting. The three "women" walk a wide berth around him with their heads pointed turned away from him as if to "shun" him. This is witnessed by the 7th grade science teacher, Kelly. Greg, whose mind is now made up to resign his position, laughs at the women and say, "Are you kidding me?! What a joke! F*ck you! Remember, what comes around, goes around. And don't you forget it!"
• Greg subsequently enters his classroom to pack his things. This is witnessed by a student who then runs to tell her friends that "Mr. P. got fired!"
• Greg decides he's not going to let these witches win, so he returns to Kathi's office and tells her that he's not resigning.
• Kathi tells Greg that since he won't resign, she is placing him on administrative leave because the other women "fear for their safety" after his "threat." With the upcoming three-day weekend, she says he needs to turn in his resignation that following Tuesday (October 9th).
• Greg and I have long lunch meeting the next day (Thursday, the 4th) to discuss his next move. He and his wife have decided he needs to fight his removal. Meanwhile, the 8th grade parents and students, and parents from all grade levels, begin plans for rallies, open mike presentations at the district office's school board meetings, letter writing campaigns, etc.
• Tuesday, October 9 - Parents and students meet in the community park to discuss possible protest actions. Kathi tells her staff that the parents are out to get them as well as her, and several teachers attend the meeting in order to "confront" the parents. Included in the "interlopers" is a former teacher of our school who is now a school administrator in another district and the alleged lesbian lover of Kathi.
  
• Wednesday, October 10 - Parents and 8th grade students protest with posters outside of school. Students wear homemade shirts that say "We love Mr. P." and "Teach from the heart, not by the book." Kathi calls an emergency staff meeting to try and get staff to take the signs out of parents and students hands out front; the staff refuses. Charlene tells Kathi to "shut up" and begins a screaming tirade during the meeting. Debbi tells the staff to come to her kindergarten classroom and talk to her if they want the real story; Kathi tells Debbi she's being "unprofessional." The students also march on the playground at recess, holding posters. Teachers, some coerced by Kathi, are told to rip the posters out of the hands of students and threaten them with detention and suspension. Students wearing the handmade t-shirts are told to turn them inside out or go home and change clothes. Failure to comply with result in automatic suspensions and possible revocation of variances (the ability to attend our school, even if the student lives in another school's boundary).
  
• Wednesday evening, October 10 - Parents and students attend local district governing board meeting and make impassioned speeches during "open mike" time. I set up private blog (open by invitation only) to give parents a venue to discuss issues openly. This in response to the actions of several teachers (who are also parents and supporters of Kathi) who placed their e-mail addresses anonymously on the e-mail distribution list in order to secure information and leak it back to Kathi.
  
• October 19 - Greg has meeting at district office with the Associate Superintendent of Human Resources, Chuck. Kathi is present, as well as Debbi. Chuck tells Greg that the only options open are:
• Transfer to another school within the district
  
• Transfer out of the district
• Resign
• Greg takes the only option available that would enable him the possibility of returning to our school. He also insists that he be allowed to continue as the girls' basketball coach. Chuck agrees, and Greg signs the agreement.
• October 23rd - Greg begins his new position. Meanwhile, the parents have now begun a petition drive to oust the principal on the grounds that she is an ineffective leader. Plans have also been underway to have Teresa removed from our school. Charlene, Tina, and Teresa tell their students, "You don't know the true story. Mr. P. has been lying to you and using you as pawns. Your parents have been lying to you. The truth is so bad, no one will tell you the truth." Teresa also tells the students, "I'm not scared of you or your parents. I'm not going anywhere."
• October 24th - A few teachers (supporters of Kathi) hang posters around the campus (including the windows of EVERY classroom) stating, "We 'heart' our Principals." Connie comes to our school to meet with Kathi and several parents to discuss the complaints. One firecracker parent presents Connie a stack of several dozen formal complaints (all with supporting materials attached) outlining the history of ineffective leadership by our principal, Kathi. Connie promises to address each complaint and tells Kathi to remove the signs from campus.
  
• October 26th - It is announced that this is Teresa's last day and she is leaving our school for another after asking for a transfer.
• Charlene sends e-mails to two fellow teachers telling them to "tell their buddy" that he is not to show his face near her, her classroom, or her home. If he does, she will call the police. One of the teachers to whom she sent this is Greg's wife, Debbi, although Charlene thinks she has sent this to another staff member, a different Debbie.
• Greg prints out the e-mails and meets with Chuck with a formal complaint form in hand, telling Chuck he (Greg) feels threatened by Charlene, and he (Greg) will file a legal order of protection against Charlene if Chuck does not take action against Charlene.
• Week of October 29th - Kathi prints out signatures of the electronic petition to have her removed from her position, and places it in the teachers lounge. She allegedly sends certified letters to some complainants (contents unknown) and begins calling petition signers to find out "what their problems are. Why do you want me to leave."
• October 31st - Chuck arrives on campus to have close-door meeting with Kathi, Charlene, and Tina. After meeting, Kathi calls Greg to tell him that he is not allowed on our campus for any activity except for basketball events; this includes the upcoming staff/student volleyball game scheduled following basketball try-outs on Tuesday, November 6th. (Note: Charlene and Tina never attend after school functions; Kathi rarely attends events. Greg and Debbi frequent them.) Greg contemplates legal action against Kathi, Charlene, and the district.
• Parents plan another "open mike" session
• Parents plan to attend "meet and greet" sessions staged by the school board at various local coffeehouses on Saturday, November 10th.
• November 2nd - Kathi and several staff members "make an appearance" at the PTSA Ice Cream Social. Kathi tells her staff, "You WILL show up at this event. We WILL show these radical parents that we are in control." These are the types of events at which the principals and staff should attend, but Kathi and most staff usually do not attend.
  
• November 3rd - Kathi enlists the help of several staff members and parents telling them that the "radical" parents who call themselves "Concerned Parents for (Name of School) are not supportive of the school and are only interested in causing trouble for the community. She uses district e-mail communication lines (in direct violation of the district policy) to spread her libelous garbage and circulates the link to her own petition in a vain effort to save her job.
  

So, there you have the story up to the moment. Read and ponder. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments. If you, like us, are outraged and/or disgusted, and you'd like to sign the online petition and aren't intimidated by the tactics of a raving ineffective school administrator, e-mail me at azdice AT gmail DOT com, and I'll send you the link. I realize that by doing this, I will be revealing my true identity and the location of my home, but I feel this fight is very important and worth the risk. One of you already has signed, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This woman, Kathi, has never placed the interests of the students first and foremost, has a history of ignoring problems and complaints in the hope that things will "go away," and now has caused further damage by inflicting more pain on a fractured community. She is using the situation to make herself into a martyr, and we parents are sick of it.

Enough is enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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While I have breath, I have PHenomenal Hope.