Investigation of teacher’s alleged racist remarks underway; district officials tight-lipped on details

South Middle School

In an exchange that lasted roughly an hour, several members of the public, many of them parents, stepped up to the microphone to share their concerns and questions over the district’s handling of a South Middle School teacher who was recently suspended following allegations of making racist remarks in class.

The airing of grievances during the school board’s semimonthly meeting Monday night at the district offices, however, yielded few answers for parents wondering how and when the issue would be resolved.

“Each particular situation is different, and so I don’t generally have a predetermined notion of how long something’s going to take,” David Cunningham, the district’s executive director of human resources and legal services, told the Journal-World on Tuesday. “We will move with all due diligence to investigate, but I can’t give you ‘it’ll be done by’ or ‘I expect it to be done by’ because I don’t want to create expectations that I can’t ultimately meet.”

The district has been tight-lipped on the matter since last Tuesday, when media and school families were first notified of the complaint issued by a family member of a South student. At the time, district officials declined to name the teacher or offer specifics as to what was allegedly said in the classroom, citing confidentiality reasons.

School board members asked that public commenters abstain from using the accused’s name (several in the audience claimed to know which teacher had allegedly made the remarks) during Monday’s meeting, a request that Cunningham later explained as protection on the district’s part against potential legal action.

“We don’t want a perception that the board is discussing a specific individual,” Cunningham said, even if the accused’s name had been disclosed by a public commenter and not by school board members themselves.

“If we were to violate somebody’s confidence, then I’d say they’d possibly have a cause of action,” he later added.

It has been confirmed, however, that the teacher has been suspended (with pay) until an investigation is completed. When pressed for details, Cunningham did not say how long he expects the investigation to last. He did not offer any confirmation, for instance, that the issue would be resolved by the end of the school year.

Cunningham also did not disclose any specifics about the current investigation, but referred the Journal-World to the school board’s official policy manual. The district, he said, is obligated to “look into” any allegation that might violate policy, which includes compliance with state and national antidiscrimination laws.

According to district policy, complaints about discrimination, harassment, hazing or bullying (“it could be any one of those,” Cunningham said of the most recent complaint) are handled under informal or formal procedures.

While the district’s HR department receives several complaints (parents’ displeasure at a disciplinary measure taken against their student, for example, could be described as such) during the course of an average school year, harassment- or discrimination-level complaints are rare, Cunningham said.

When a complaint is considered serious enough to warrant an investigation, the district’s compliance coordinator (or his/her designee) is tasked with conducting it. Generally, that responsibility falls to Cunningham.

The investigation, according to policy, “shall be informal but thorough.” This process affords all interested parties, including the complainant and the person against whom the complaint is being lodged, the opportunity to submit written and/or oral evidence relevant to the alleged activity.

A written determination of the complaint’s validity and a description of the proposed resolution is then issued by the investigator, with a copy forwarded to the complainant and also to “any person determined to have engaged in prohibited conduct” no later than 30 days after the filing of the complaint, policy instructs. In cases of “good cause,” that period may be extended up to 60 additional days.

“If the investigation results in a recommendation that an employee be suspended without pay or terminated, procedures outlined in board policy, the negotiated agreement and state law shall be followed,” according to the manual.

Those who have had allegations made against them also have the right to appeal, as outlined in school board policy, in which case the appeal will be considered either by a superintendent’s designee, the school board or by an individual appointed on the school board’s behalf.

In the case at South, the district has confirmed that the accused teacher has already been interviewed. Cunningham, however, did not tell the Journal-World whether investigators plan to interview students and staff about the matter.

That’s something that “potentially” needs to happen, Superintendent Kyle Hayden told audience members at Monday’s school board meeting.

Meanwhile, Cunningham said that a substitute would likely be brought in to cover the class, if one hasn’t already, and that students are generally not provided much information in these cases as to why their teacher is absent.

“I think what Kyle indicated last night was that we take these things very seriously, we investigate them, and we’re in a situation where we cannot easily discuss with parents or others because of the nature of the personnel restriction that we have,” Cunningham said.