T.H. Rogers is known as a pretty great school, in or out of the Houston Independent School District. But as my column this week (“Let the Record Reflect”) shows, the principal there, Dr. Cathryn White, is at odds with several of her teachers.
Quoted in the story is the Regional Supervisor who oversees Rogers, Barbara Thornhill. Teachers and union officials from the Houston Federation of Teachers told the Houston Press they had complained for months about White, but Thornhill did nothing.
Thornhill disagreed, telling the Press no one brought any allegations to her about White at any time in or out of HFT meetings. And that’s what we printed.
Which infuriated Zeph Capo, the HFT government liaison.
As it turns out, Hair Balls has come into possession of two e-mails that contradict Thornhill’s statements.
In an e-mail dated February 26, 2009 from Capo to Thornhill, the union
leader says he is scheduled to represent two teachers at Rogers, that
he met with several teachers at Rogers and “they were emphatic about
their desire to transfer.”
He goes on to say that a colleague of
his is “setting up a meeting with the paraprofessional staff at the
school interested in finding another place to work.”
“I am
unsure as of yet what the catalyst is behind the level of discontent,
however it is coming from every aspect of the campus staff,” Capo
writes. Later he says, “I feel obligated to bring this matter to your
attention, though I am concerned that the principal will react in a
manner that will escalate the morale problems in an attempt to scare
them into silence.” He also writes that Thornhill has “been very fair
and upfront” and that’s why he’s bringing her this.
In a
February 27 e-mail back to Capo, Thornhill writes: “I have asked
Jocelyn Mouton to contact you today. Dr. Mouton is the EP in charge of
supervising the teaching and learning at TH Rogers. I appreciate your
contacting me about your concerns.”
So how is Thornhill able to
say she knew nothing of the teacher/principal problems at Rogers? Did
she forget about this e-mail exchange and her asking Dr. Mouton to look
into it?
Hair Balls has sent those questions to the HISD press
office and will update when they become available. Hair Balls is also
waiting on a copy of that HISD survey of Rogers employees that
Thornhill had said would have much more validity than an HFT survey
done in March. The HFT survey, among other things, showed 56 percent
of those who responded didn’t think White meets minimum standards for
instructional leadership.
The word we got was that the
HISD-ordered survey didn’t show results all that different than HFT’s.
We’ll let you know either way once we get our hands on it.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2009.
