BY STEVEN STIEFEL FOR THE OBSERVER
Smiths Station Teachers Confront Superintendent
Lee County Superintendent Mike Howard found himself taking heat from angry parents and teachers from South Smiths Station Elementary School during the Feb. 11 regular school board meeting.
Teachers including Jamie Johnson, Ashley Roberson, Madison Franklin and Kristina Singletary addressed the school board, as did community member Jesse Flowers. Citizens filled the Opelika board room in a show of support for suspended Principal Teresa Phillips, who was placed on administrative leave last month.
Johnson said the staff at the school feels unfairly persecuted with teacher voices ignored, which is detrimental to the environment.
“The superintendent’s Jan. 22 statement in the Citizen of East Alabama newspaper stated the school was out of compliance for using materials that were not approved, and we were instructed that we must take immediate and corrective action,” Johnson said. “The superintendent’s statement was defamation to the character of the teachers at our school. This created unrest and doubt and left out parents wondering if we were still accredited. I’ve always been very, very proud to teach there, but after what was said by our superintendent, I was left degraded and fearful for what the future holds.”
The teachers claimed school system staff reached out to self-report use of the non-compliance as a result of text messages they had been given.
At issue were the use of curriculum materials not approved by The Office of Math Instruction (OMI) and Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) while teaching students. Howard explained the new assistant Superintendent Ellen Mary found some discrepancies in January and reported it to OMI and ARI.
“There were some closed-door conversations that I can’t discuss, but the verbiage was very clear that we’d better fix it and could possibly lose state funding,” Howard said. “At the end of the day, all we want is just everybody doing what they’re supposed to do the right way. We’re a school system, not a system of schools. If we have people that are doing their own thing, without approval and being insubordinate when they are told not to do it and they still do it anyway, that’s an issue because of what happens if everybody else starts doing it too. And then you have a school system that’s out of compliance with state and board policies.”
Roberson questioned the lack of transparency regarding why Howard put the school’s principal on administrative leave and stated this action leaves people to speculate and share misinformation, especially on social media. Roberson also cited fear among non-tenured teachers for speaking out due to potential retaliatory actions, creating an unhealthy work environment.
Speakers shared their views that claims of non-compliance with the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) lacked credibility and insisted the school is actually in compliance and that ARI is not responsible for policing compliance.
Howard said teachers approaching ARI to verify the existence of an investigation defied professional etiquette.
“I don’t really like teachers going above everybody, straight to the State Department, because that’s not the chain of command. That’s not how things are supposed to work. You’re supposed to talk to your supervisor and get your answers from us so we can tell them what’s going on,” Howard said.
He said every county elementary school employee is being investigated to determine who told teachers they had permission to use the noncompliant materials, including the Central Office staff. Howard said he assigned Amy Long as interim principal to the school while the investigation by the independent Bailey Group proceeds. He said he isn’t sure where individual teachers stand on use of the non-approved curriculum materials.
“We’ll start questioning people just to get clarity on certain things as we progress forward. That’s how any investigation proceeds. Everybody’s going to have their due process where they’ll be able to explain their side of things. My job is not to eliminate people’s positions. My job is to make sure we’re following because I just want all of us doing the right thing. My fingers are crossed that we don’t find anything other than we need to just put the boat back in the right direction.”
During the meeting, Flowers complained of zero communication on the matter of investigating the alleged use of unapproved teaching materials. She praised Principal Phillips as “an outstanding principal, educator and leader. She supports her staff, students and parents with the utmost respect.”
Several were critical of comments delivered by Howard at a staff meeting at the school on Jan. 9. His comments addressed the way that sharing of the assistant superintendent’s personal information on Facebook had affected her.
“He seemed very passionate and furious about the fact that someone has taken her trauma and brought it into her only place of solace, her workplace. I agree with him wholeheartedly that what was done to her was not okay. He, in turn, took away any solace we feel at our workplace. This matter should have been handled privately with the guilty parties,” she said.
She rejected claims that the school environment is “toxic” and said teachers now “walk into the school cowering and ducking in fear because we’ve been told that someone among us has broken laws, but we have no idea who it is or what laws or policies they’ve actually broken.”
Singleterry said the superintendent “accused our school of being toxic, having a mean girl clique, being racist, not following guidelines and other things. He addressed our faculty in a way that felt more like harassment than being a leader who is trying to fix a problem within our school. He said he was embarrassed to be our superintendent.”
Howard explained his comments, saying “Early on in this investigation, we found that there are groups of cliques that started in that building, and they are picking sides, one way or the other, whether it be picking staff sides or whatever it may be. I don’t do cliques. We’re educators. We teach school. We have to separate ourselves and know that our job is to educate students. Our jobs are to come to work every day and educate them to the best of our ability based on the parameters that are set forth. And we don’t always have to enjoy it. I’ve got to keep the law if I want to keep my job.”
He said the employee’s personal life was brought into a justification of why teachers were not going to listen to her directives.
“They were passing around photos of things going on in her personal life that have nothing to do with education. It has nothing to do with her, honestly. It’s things going on in her life that she can’t control. Sharing things on Facebook and everything else as a justification to not comply with state law. To use somebody’s personal life against them is disgusting behavior. When you start getting personal, that’s where we cross a danger threshold,” Howard said.
The superintendent expressed his hope that the matter will blow over soon with no loss of state funding.
