A day after the Pike Township school board released a letter detailing staff complaints of “bullying, hostility, retaliation, and toxicity from senior leadership” that the board said pose serious challenges to the district’s culture and climate, it held its regular public meeting Thursday night.
But board members did not mention the letter once.
Members of the school community demanded answers anyway.
Board president Terry Webster, Sr. later confirmed Superintendent Larry Young remains the district’s active superintendent but would not say whether he’s on administrative leave or address what’s happening in district leadership. Young did not attend the meeting.
The board commissioned an outside consultant to conduct a “confidential climate survey” and released some of the results in a public letter Wednesday. The survey results presented in the letter showed that 93% of respondents said that the leadership style most prevalent in the district was “autocratic/dictatorial/authoritarian.”
The letter detailed that 50% of respondents said they did not feel valued and respected at work, while another 10% said they could not or would not offer an opinion.
A group of survey participants also reported that “they worked under constant fear of making mistakes or failing, were micromanaged, and were called out and belittled in front of their peers,” the letter said.
“The Board does not, and will not, condone a culture of fear, mistrust, or lack of transparency at any level within the District,” the letter said. “The Board expects, and requires, that all staff, families, and community members are treated with respect and dignity by all representatives of MSD Pike.”
Parents raise concerns
Stella Brown, a Pike Township resident, told the school board during Thursday’s meeting that she thought the letter was “divisive, deceptive and misleading.”
She questioned how many people were surveyed and what exactly is the issue the district is facing.
Brown said she believes that the survey did not provide enough evidence to explain what the problem truly is with the district, and she said it failed to answer a vital question for the district.
“I want to know: Are my kids safe, and are the teachers able to teach?” Brown said to the board. “…That’s what all parents want to know.”
Another Pike Township resident, Sterling Davis, said that without knowing who took the survey, how many participated, or the demographics of the respondents, the results presented in the letter are meaningless.
“A percentage without context cannot tell us the whole story,” Davis said to the board. “It cannot necessarily tell us the truth.”
The northwest Marion County district enrolls around 10,640 students — about 60% are Black and 27% are Hispanic.
Mary Allen, a 30-year Pike Township resident, told the board that she doesn’t believe the board was following the district’s own “human dignity policy,” which it referenced in its letter, during a recent contentious town hall to explain the board’s recent actions over hiring a new co-athletic director.
“I was concerned whether that human dignity policy was abide during that town hall meeting, where the community was berated, and people were threatened, and voices were silenced,” Allen said.
The Pike Township school board has been under fire in recent months over the search process for a co-athletic director for the district, a dispute that saw an intense backlash from parents and members of the public who accused the board of lacking transparency over the hiring process. The controversy also resulted in the school board president’s home mailbox being vandalized.
WFYI asked Webster after Thursday’s meeting if he or any of the board members would like to provide further clarification about the letter. Webster directed all questions back to the letter.
Young’s entire education career is at Pike Township. He was picked to be superintendent in June 2022, following the sudden departure of Superintendent Flora Reichanadter, who had faced months of criticism from parents and teachers over disruptions to student learning and management of the district.
Three of members of the school board are seeking re-election in the November election for their at-large seats — Webster, Alonzo Anderson and Wayne Moore. They face one challenger.
This article was written by WFYI government reporter Caroline Beck.
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