Ex-principal files defamation lawsuit against JCPS
The former principal of Buechel Metro High School says Jefferson County Public Schools leaders have created a false perception of his tenure as a way to demonstrate a need to merge two alternative schools and create the new Minor Daniels Academy.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Jefferson Circuit Court, Joey Riddle, now the assistant principal at Jefferson County High School, asserts the Jefferson County Board of Education and Superintendent Donna Hargens defamed his performance as an educator and wrongfully demoted him from the position of principal to assistant principal for voicing concerns that merging Buechel Metro High and Kennedy Metro Middle School could be dangerous for students and staff.
“For the last year I have been harassed, intimidated and put down by my employer of 23 years,” Riddle said in a statement released Friday. “I honestly think this was done as part of a plan to discredit me and create the false perception that the alternative schools in Jefferson County Public School District were in dire need of some kind of reform.”
A lawsuit represents only one side of a case. JCPS spokeswoman Bonnie Hackbarth said the district has no comment.
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by The Courier-Journal, the district’s efforts to show Riddle was unfit to lead the alternative high school began in October 2014 when a social worker launched an investigation into “complaints about students allegedly being sent home from the alternative school.” The district “circumvented the established protocol for addressing concerns” and fast-tracked the complaints to the superintendent, the lawsuit said.
JCPS hears resolution on Minor Daniels
Riddle was subjected to what he said in the statement was an “unfair and open-ended” investigation. He said he was not allowed to respond to allegations until after they had been substantiated, and “the substantiated claim misrepresented the actual facts,” according to the lawsuit.
In February 2015, Riddle and other alternative school principals learned of JCPS’ plan to merge Kennedy Metro and Buechel. According to the lawsuit, Riddle was told to prepare for the merger by “creating pathways” for the student population. Nearly two months later, shortly before a detailed merger plan was scheduled to go before the school board, Riddle was asked to attend a cabinet meeting, during which he was reassured by then-Chief Academic Officer Dewey Hensley none of the alternative school principals would lose their jobs should the merger be approved.
A few days later, Riddle attended another cabinet meeting, during which Riddle questioned the proposed merger, according to the lawsuit.
Placing both middle and high school students in a “very small” school building could be “dangerous, given what I knew to be the facts about my school population and that of Kennedy,” Riddle said in his statement. The lawsuit spells out concerns of peer pressure.
At the same meeting, according to the lawsuit, Hargens reassured Riddle he would not lose his job in the merger, although Riddle was demoted to his current position in early May, shortly after an updated merger plan was approved by the board, according to the lawsuit.
“At this point, it was apparent to me that questioning the plan to merge Kennedy and Buechel cost me my job as principal,” Riddle said.
No easy fix seen for Minor Daniels
Since the beginning of the school year, teachers at the merged alternative school, Minor Daniels Academy, have reported feeling unsafe and unsupported by school administration, The Courier-Journal has reported. In a survey released earlier this month that revealed issues with discipline and behavior in the school, one educator begged administrators to “help us get this madhouse under control so we can teach."
Teachers spoke out at a recent board meeting about threats of verbal, emotional, physical and sexual assault, The Courier-Journal has reported.
Riddle said recent remarks by Minor Daniels principal Don Dillard “have only reinforced the conclusion that there is an attempt being made to blame me for the disaster that is the result of the District’s taking resources and experienced leaders and staff away from the alternative school kids and calling it reform.”
In an interview, attorney Will Walsh, who is representing Riddle, said JCPS' creation of Minor Daniels was "budget-cutting disguised as reform."
Survey: 86% Minor Daniels teachers feel unsafe
"They did a very, very shoddy job of planning, and they want to blame Joey for it, and it's totally unfair," Walsh said. "When he ran Buechel, it was a good place, as good as it's going to be considering he's dealing with the most traumatized kids in the county."
The Courier-Journal reported earlier this year a school funding reallocation plan, which included merging Kennedy and Buechel, was expected to save the district about $880,000, in large part by increasing the student-teacher ratios at the district's alternative schools.
“Sadly, as the merged school endures some of the dangers that I attempted to warn them about, JCPS leaders continue to paint a false perception of the school I was the principal of in order to save face and buy time to create remedies for the issues I begged them to prepare for,” Riddle said.
Reporter Matthew Glowicki contributed to this report. Reporter Kirsten Clark can be reached at (502) 582-4144. Follow the Courier-Journal’s education team on Facebook at Facebook.com/SchooledCJ.