Several parents voiced their displeasure over the purported removal of a Brookwood School teacher at the latest Dalton Board of Education meeting — with some public speakers accusing a board member of playing a behind-the-scenes role in the sudden suspension.
“It’s generally not the board’s practice to respond, especially when it’s a personnel matter,” stated Dalton Board of Education Chair Matt Evans at the outset of the meeting on March 11. “However, I will certainly stay at the conclusion of the meeting, I know the superintendent Dr. (Tim) Scott will.”
The exchange began with comments from a speaker who identified himself only as Jeff.
He said he and his spouse were “deeply concerned and puzzled” by an incident that reportedly transpired at the school earlier this month.
“A fifth-grade teacher in the German dual language instruction program was placed on leave hours before a group of 16 pupils and three teachers arrived in this country to participate in an international school exchange program,” he said. “I understand that disciplinary measures are an internal matter for the school’s administration — nevertheless, I would like to understand the timing and the circumstances better.”
He said that the school’s communication with parents regarding the suspension has been lacking.
“I would like to know if it is correct that a parent of a child in the class made a complaint about the film ‘Freedom’s Legacy: A Conversation with Ruby Bridges’ … did the parent or parents object to the subject matter of the film or something else?” he said. “Did the parents follow district policy and raise their concerns with the teacher first, did the school investigate the matter before suspending the teacher, did the school provide the teacher written notice of any charges and did the school hold a hearing according to the due process established by state laws?”
Another Brookwood parent, Ashley Broadrick, said she also wasn’t happy with the alleged turn of events.
“Our community’s eyes are on DPS and the culture we are cultivating,” she said. “Recent events have not construed excellence, and our handling has not met stakeholders’ expectations.”
Broadrick said her family was hosting two students from the program’s German cohort.
“Last week’s swift removal of a teacher who is no threat to her students in light of timing of the cohort arriving appear to be discriminatory and unnecessarily dramatic,” she said. “I also raise concerns that this was handled at a central office level and not passed off for due diligence at the school as outlined by our grievance procedure.”
She said that school administrators have also been “blindsided” by the incident.
“This feels like an out of balance power and it reeks of abuse of power,” she continued. “It is the function of our board to employ the superintendent, it is not the privilege of personal handlings nor complaints — this was a knee-jerk reaction and an isolated complaint that resulted in a far overcorrecting reaction.”
Another Brookwood parent, identified as Leighanna Grenio in DPS documentation, did not tiptoe around the matter.
“Last week, there was this abrupt suspension of a teacher surrounding what has only been described to me as an isolated complaint,” she said. “All indicators and appearances are that this was made above and instead of through the Brookwood administration level.”
She said that she believes a school board member, whom she did not identify by name during the public meeting, chose to use the position “to escalate the situation and have this teacher removed” from classes.
“The simple fact is that any other parents’ complaints about a teacher’s statements would not have resulted in such removal,” she added. “Other city boards and commissions have a recusal process, courts have recusal process to eliminate conflicts of interest and avoid either the actual or even the appearance of any sort of abuse by any of those board members.”
Regardless of the hows and whys of the removal, she said the immersion program at Brookwood was left without a teacher — meaning the school system had to use taxpayer dollars and resources on a temporary instructor.
“This demonstrates a failure of leadership to be sure that policy is followed regardless of who makes a complaint,” she said. “It cannot be the policy of this board or the school system to remove a teacher from the classroom prior to any investigation — particularly when there is no physical concern about a child.”
Yet another Brookwood parent, Annabelle McKie-Voerste, aired her concerns to board members.
“From my perspective, it seems like the proper chain of command of procedures weren’t followed,” she said. “I expect our public schools and especially the German immersion program to be a welcoming and safe place for all people, including people of marginalized groups.”
No school board members or administrators directly addressed the matter from the dais at the meeting on March 11.
“We have to be very careful about commenting on that,” Evans said. “We do value your feedback, if we can learn from it, if we can get better from it, again that would be always our goal and our heart.”