I’m Calling You Out — on the DCS Board and letter from Alabama Education Association
Watch a new episode of “I’m Calling You Out” on the Dothan City Schools Board and the letter from the Alabama Education Association.
Dothan Market Report
FOLKS, IT IS WITH DEEP SORROW THAT WE MOURN THE PASSING OF OUR LONG TIME AUCTIONEER, BEST FRIEND AND FISHING BUDDY, COL. MAX KELLEY. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MISSED AND REMEMBERED BY ALL OF US HERE AT DOTHAN LIVESTOCK AND ALL OF OUR CUSTOMERS !!!
HUNGRY ON MONDAY ? COME TO DOTHAN LIVESTOCK AND ENJOY AN AWESOME BREAKFAST AND LUNCH FROM THE GOOD FOLKS FROM RAYS RESTAURANT !!!
FOLKS WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE GOOD FOLKS FROM RAYS RESTAURANT IN DOTHAN ARE NOW RUNNING OUR CAFE ON MONDAY SERVING BREAKFAST AND LUNCH AND IT IS GOOD !!!
WELL FOLKS, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, WE ARE STARTING OUR 32ND YEAR HERE AT DOTHAN LIVESTOCK. IT DOES NOT SEEM THAT LONG BUT IT IS TRUE. IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE TO SERVE ALL OF YOU, OUR GOOD FRIENDS AND CUSTOMERS , BOTH BUYERS AND SELLERS, AND WE THANK YOU EACH AND EVERYONE FOR YOUR TRUST IN US ! WE KNOW THAT WE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN HERE THIS LONG WITHOUT ALL OF YOU!! SO FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
WE THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF OUR GOOD FRIENDS AND CUSTOMERS FOR ALLOWING US TO SERVE YOU.
RECIEVING HOURS :
SATURDAY 7 A M UNTIL 4 P M
SUNDAY 7 A M UNTIL 7 P M OR LATER IF NEED BE
MONDAY 6 A M UNTIL END OF SALE
STOCKYARD CAFE OPEN FOR LUNCH MONDAY .
Our regular Cattle Sale is each Monday @ 10:00 A. M. Central Time. We only close 4 days out the year which are The weeks of JULY 4th, THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR. We are open all other MONDAY Holidays.
TWO ADDITIONS TO OUR STAFF TO BETTER SERVE YOU IN ANY WAY WE CAN:
Kevin Amerson, Kevin has been with us for several years and is a field rep. in South Alabama and the Florida Panhandle and is now also in our office assisting with day to day operations.
Kevin`s cell # 850-373-8900
Kenny Woodham, South Alabama and South Georgia
Kenny`s cell # 334-405-9425
BARN MANAGER: LEVI JACKSON – 334-200-9821
Texasville, Al., Mrs. Bennie Jean Baxley Cell # 334-695-9464, Home # 334-775-8990
Donalsonville-Colquitt, Ga. area, Kenny Woodham
Drake Morrow, 334-504-2011, Opp Receiving Station
Drake is also our newest auctioneer and doing an outstanding job !!
We have pick up stations in Texasville and the Opp area.
NOTE: OUR WEEKEND RECEIVING HOURS:
SATURDAY- 7:00 A.M. TO 4:00 P.M.
SUNDAY- 7:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M.
PLEASE CALL IF YOU WILL BE BRINGING CATTLE AFTER THESE HOURS, WE WILL MAKE ARRANGEMENTS
AEA letter threatens sanctions against DCS Board, Chairman response shoots back; read both letters
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.
8:26 PM, Sunday: Subject Slits Throat In Front Of Hartford Police
HARTFORD: Sunday Geneva County 911 dispatched Hartford Police to a suspicious persons call.
According to the best information available to RSN at this time, the person was disorderly with the Hartford Police Officer and a physical altercation took place, the suspicious person being the aggressor towards the Hartford Police Officer.
It is UNCONFIRMED but based on the best information available the officer deployed a taser. The subject had produced a box cutter. The suspect is reported to have slit his own throat with the box cutter. Additional law enforcement from Slocomb Police, Geneva County Sheriff Department and Hartford Police were responding.
Slocomb Fire – Rescue Chief Kyle Hovey had left his family on Easter to travel to Enterprise to pick up a Slocomb EMS crew who transported one to Enterprise. They were going to leave the ambulance for service at Enterprise Rescue shop. Chief Hovey, traveling in Slocomb Fire – Rescue Emergency Response vehicle was coming through Hartford at the time of this incident. Chief Hovey responded, as did Hartford Fire – Rescue.
Emergency Medical Care, quality emergency medical care, was being rendered. The suspect was still combative and disorderly. The patient was placed in the Hartford Ambulance, with Slocomb Fire – EMS Chief Hovey and the Slocomb Police Officer for transport with emergency, trauma alert, to a Dothan hospital.
During transport, due to the suspect hitting vital veins and arteries when he self-inflicted slit his throat with the box cutter, the subject coded, in that he stopped breathing. The medics initiated CPR during transport to a Dothan hospital.
Shortly after arrival the medical director at the hospital gave orders to discontinue CPR and the subject was pronounced dead.
Geneva County Coroner Donny Adkinson was, or should have been, notified.
Normal protocol would be for ALEA – SBI to be notified of the death. This was a great team effort with Slocomb Fire – Rescue, Hartford Rescue and Slocomb Police riding in on the ambulance.
Caverns Road Church of Christ laser tag
8:38 PM. Dale County Sheriff Mason Bynum Deploys Helicopter and Air Boat On Saturday
DALE COUNTY: Late Saturday afternoon Ozark – Dale County 911 dispatch Dale County Sheriff Deputies to Clayhatchee to some boaters stranded.
Reports were the boaters were stranded a distance down from Clayhatchee. The water was shallow and made navigation with a boat with a motor difficult.
Dale County Sheriff Mason Bynum deployed the WASP ( Wiregrass Aviation Support Program ) helicopter to fly down and check on the boater. While the air support unit was in the air Sheriff Bynum had the Dale County Sheriff Air Boat deployed to the scene. The air boat was launched and responded to the stranded boaters, being led to them by the WASP air unit.
A successful recovery. Quick response and action from Dale County Sheriff Deputies, WASP and Air Boat.