The tension seems to be high within the Dothan City Schools Board of Education — the issue coming to a head as the general counsel for the Alabama Education Association sent a letter to Board Chairman Scott Childers, claiming his behavior is “alarming and unprofessional” and saying he “overstepped his authority” and “creates a hostile work environment.” The response from Childers alleges otherwise, saying the letter seeks to retrain his freedom of speech and contains unclear and non-specific allegations.
RSN received the letter shortly after it was distributed to board members.
The letter claims Childers broke rules from the DCS Code of Conduct.
Among the accused violations includes “leaking” information.
“This ‘leaking’ of information has jeopardized the work performance of the grievants and has harmed the public’s perception and trust of Dothan City Schools,” the letter reads.
The letter claims sharing information “before it is properly reviewed and publicized” breaks Item 16: safeguarding the confidentiality of nonpublic information. The AEA official says information is not public until it’s been addressed by the Board in a public meeting.
The letter also calls out the Board Chairman’s public pleas for the public to pay attention to what he considers to be possibly improper conduct.
The letter reads: “You called out your own fellow Board members ‘on one side’ for not caring about Dothan City Schools. You then repeatedly said, ‘I hope the public is listening.’ You also encouraged the public to ‘change the school board.’
“It is not your place to encourage voters to go against your fellow Board members. The public can make these decisions on their own, and your encouragement was highly unprofessional and violates the basic tenets of boardmanship that you were elected to embody.”
Furthermore, the letter claims Childers’ statements were “highly unethical,” claiming he was “essentially campaigning on Board time while using your resources and authority as Board Chair.”
The letter further says Childers “chastised” and “belittled” fellow Board members.
“Your comments could taint the Board’s vision of potential candidates and will most certainly taint some Dothan citizens’ perception should you not hire someone within Dothan,” the letter reads.
The letter urges Childers to “discontinue all such behavior,” and it threatens to escalate the matter to the State Department of Education for further investigation and “possible sanctions.”
The response from Childers
Childers responded saying the letter lacks many examples of grievances.
“You assert that my conduct and that of other unnamed board members may arise to the level of a hostile work environment, but again without any specifics which would allow me and/or the unnamed board members to respond,” the response reads. “You assert generically without specifics that I have directed school staff to perform duties they felt violated Board Policy. I have no recollection of ever having directed school staff to do anything. But again your allegation was without any specificity which would allow a response.”
Childers shot back saying, “You assert that I have encouraged employees to come to me with complaints. As an elected official by the people as Chairman of the Board, do you expect me to ignore taxpayers and voters when they approach me with complaints and concerns?”
He also said he has no recollection of directing staff or employees to approach him with complaints.
“You infer that either I or other board members have provided certain members of the public with ‘inside information.’ I am not certain what you refer to as ‘inside information’ but will assure you, the Dothan City Schools staff and the public that I have never ‘leaked’ confidential or non-public information. I cannot and would not undertake to speak for other members of the board. To be clear, I have only spoken about public information.
“Have I had occasions when I felt and verbalized that other members of the board might be guided in their actions by some motivation other than the best interest of the school system? Yes. And regarding those same situations have I also stated that I hope the public is listening? Yes.”
Childers went on to say he did not relinquish his rights of free speech when he was elected, saying the “threats” will not keep him from employing his freedom of speech to encourage voting.
He notes one of the recipients on the letter was the Manager of UniServ Organizing, which he said lists one of its primary goals as influencing school elections on its website and focuses one workshop on “Winning School Board Elections.”
“It would therefore appear to me that it is you who may be encouraging involvement in our school board elections,” he said. “Who is playing politics?”
He says the letter also seeks to restrain his speech when it relates to the selection of a new superintendent.
“One of my responsibilities as board chair is to assure that all board members have an opportunity to speak on all matters before the board. That right to speak extends to me as well,” he said. “I referenced the hiring of past superintendents from outside the local system as examples, in my opinion, of failed decisions.”
He said in the letter he considers bringing up these details “warnings against continuing the same actions over and over and expecting a different result.”
“I think there is a definition which comes from such actions, but it was not intended to be belittling to anyone,” he said. “I would hope that the members of our board have enough self-esteem to weather the truth.”
He closes the letter by asking how he could retaliate against unnamed parties and questioning why the letter was shared with “numerous parties” but not shared with the attorneys for the Board of Education.
This is Part One of a series of stories on the Dothan City Schools Board of Education; stay tuned for more to come.
