Herban Sprawl

10 November 2009

After a very long, probably boring, grievance hearing, the news is out. The fact-finding panel ruled against Susan Willis. The school board then voted, unfortunately along color lines, to fire her. They did the right thing.

Last week, Ms. Willis didn’t give a reporter for the Times a straight answer. She said she’d been vindicated, but she did not say the panel found in her favor. As was proper, the school board was mum. The newspaper editors then opined that if she had prevailed, she should quit playing coy and say so. I read that and thought, “Oho, she lost.”

So, she allowed the dissenting panelist’s four page disagreement to be published. I read that thing. She was sure trying to lay a lot of the mess at the superintendent’s feet, but much of it was stuff that could easily be refuted, or was obfuscation.

For example, her panelist noted that Dr. Bishop didn’t conduct Ms. Willis’ evaluations. The general public might not know this, but Dr. Bishop is free to assign someone else that task. Back in the day, someone from the personnel office observed my principal when she observed me, and then observed the follow-up conference.

There were other items like that, and they were clearly intended to provoke and turn public opinion against the superintendent. My guess is that the lawyers wrote it. It went point by point, and I have a hard time believing the volleyball coach had the time or inclination to write that thing. You can tell lawyer writing, especially when they try hard not to sound like lawyers. It’s pretty pathetic in that regard.

But it clearly was intended to set the stage for the inevitable lawsuit. I’m still trying to figure out where she is getting the money for a team of Richmond lawyers and a p.r. firm, not to mention her Armani suits. (Of course, those could be knock-offs… or she could have shopped at Loehmann’s.)

For now, though, the teachers at Fleming have to be breathing a sigh of relief that she won’t be back. To be sure, there were some who got along with her, but the talent drain from that building during her short time there was pretty hard to ignore. She was an equal opportunity bully, so teachers left.

It remains to be seen what the fall out will be. It’s never a good thing when an African American administrator goes down in flames, and it’s especially bad when that fall from grace is carried out in the papers. The two A-A school board members didn’t vote to fire her, and an A-A city council member has voiced support for her. Another A-A council member is an employee of the school board. If I’m her, I keep my mouth shut and simply acknowledge that due process was followed, the chips fell as they did and it’s time to move on. As a past president of the education association, she had to be aware of the turmoil in that building, so it’s fair to assume she has mixed feelings. Race is still a big factor in this town, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the race card will be played in her next gambit.

Now then, where is the Department of Education in this whole ordeal and why haven’t they pulled her certificate? If they did, there would be no grounds for a lawsuit, and certainly, anyone who cheats on the SOLs deserves their worst punishment. They really do need to make an example of her.

This is Virginia, the state that blinked blue but didn’t have the sense to stay blue. With our luck, the DOE will hire her to investigate other allegations of SOL cheating. After all, she could be considered an expert in her field!