Teacher's Survey

ROYAL CITY - One of the questions that went unanswered at last week's Royal School Board meeting was posed by Vice President Craig Janett.

After Royal Education Association (union) President Brent Whitaker read a statement regarding a teacher survey, Janett wanted to know its origination. He asked Whitaker if it was true that teachers were told it was started by a board member.

Whitaker did not answer straight on. He asked Janett to read the email Whitaker had sent out, which did not mention the board. Janett asked again, and Whitaker made the same suggestion.

Janett changed the question. He asked if the teachers were allowed to change their responses after they learned the survey had not come from the board. Whitaker pointed to the email again.

Middle School PE teacher Donna Dixon attempted to answer the question, but the library was a bit noisy at the time, and she was barely heard.

In an interview Thursday, Dixon said that she and other teachers were told in the teacher break room by a REA leader that the survey had originated with the board.

Dixon did not respond to the survey. She said she knows of at least five other teachers who did not respond. Dixon doesn't know where the survey came from, but she believes the effort to oust Search is a collaboration between REA leadership and at least one board member.

In her first eight years, the REA filed 6 to 7 grievances against Search. Ten have been filed since March of last year, during the time of teacher contract negotiations.

Reacting to high school teacher Veronica Bartlett's comment that Bartlett was ashamed of the way the REA has treated Search, Dixon said: "I feel the exact same way."

When RMS building representative Phil Lord passed out the survey, with other teachers present, Dixon challenged Lord about the wisdom of such a survey.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "This is a moot point. You know they're buying her out. Why are we kicking her while she's down?"

That same day, Dixon called Board President Bob Murphy to chew him out about the survey she understood had come from the board. Murphy's response calmed her down.

"He said he didn't know anything about it, and I believe him," she said.

The fact the board was attempting to buy out the last year of Search's contract was not supposed to be known. The discussion was held in a closed door executive session. According to President Bob Murphy, the board could be sued for disclosing that information.

"All personnel matters, by law, must be discussed in executive session," he said.

Dixon said she heard about the buy-out about two weeks before last week's board meeting. So she went to the "special" meeting before last week's meeting.

She and other visitors, including Wiley Allred, were excused after the pledge because the meeting was all executive session to discuss the performance of a public employee.

But Dixon got confirmation that the buy-out rumor was true. Dennis Ray, a school administration head hunter was present. Her assumption was that the board was already seeking a replacement.

Dixon remembered Ray from when she had participated in the hiring process that brought Search to town. He had included Search in a list of suggested superintendent candidates.

Search was the assistant superintendent at Othello at the time and was not looking for a new job. She said Ray contacted her and suggested she apply in Royal.

And she did.