The principal at Lexington's Deep Springs Elementary School has served a three-day suspension over various allegations, including trying to influence a site-based council election.
Principal Adam Kirk served the suspension without pay in June, officials said.
According to records released by the Fayette Schools under an open records request, Kirk allegedly tried to interfere with a Deep Springs site-based council election last school year by encouraging team leaders to run for a council seat. He also allegedly made derogatory comments about council members who were seeking re-election.
There also were allegations of offensive language during team meetings and individual comments of a sexual nature.
According to the records, the district will develop a corrective action plan with Kirk, and a letter outlining the allegations will be sent to the state Education Professional Standards Board.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
SBDM Violation Nets FCPS Principal 3-day Suspension
This from Jim Warren at H-L:
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This "principal" should have been discharged from his position. At our school it is much more subtle. Those who like the principal seem to know to run for the site-based decision council. Those who do not support the principal seem to instinctively know not to run for election. I am assuming this gentleman was someone who had rave reviews from Mr. Silberman.
Believe me, Richard, these incidents are from isolated in our public schools.
Thanks, as always, for reporting what Jim Warren does not.
Thanks for the comment - and compliment, but in this case, I fear I don't deserve it. The story above comes from Jim, and if it weren't for him, I wouldn't know about the incidents.
Was this printed in the Herald Leader, Richard? I might have missed it....
Also, as a former principal, do you feel this man should have been discharged?
Yes, it ran...see the link at the top (where it says "H-L").
I'm not in a position to second guess the penalty. I haven't read the documents and can't judge the severity of Kirk's acts. I'm not generally inclined to fire folks for saying dumb stuff but you can't allow that kind of meddling to persist from a leader either.
If he injudiciously tried to influence who served on council, he deserved to get his hand smacked, and a 3-day suspension is sure to get his attention.
The sexually-based comments are potentially more problematic,but we don't know the degree. All FCPS personnmel are trained in sexual harassment law, so he knew better than to do whatever he did. Whether it created a hostile environment that threatened his ability ot lead...well, I assume it fell short of that. must
I tend to defer to the professional judgment of district leadership (unless I see evidence that they are peddling a load of....). Then, all bets are off.
This is not the 1st time Adam Kirk has made sexually comments as a leader he did it as a PSA at another school and yet he gets promoted to being a Principal and Stu knew about it. Once again it makes you wonder about the quality of leadership Stu has put in our schools, and his sudden retirement which we all know is just a cover up.
It makes me wonder if FCPS is still playing games with open records requests.
I'll have to double check my dates, but I requested info on sexually-based allegations earlier int he summer and don't recall anything with Kirk's name on it.
One was case was withheld, but I know which one that was. I think paperwork on Kirk should have shown up.
Folks, I can only say Stu Silberman presided over a reign of terror. Mr. Ernst should have been fired. Mr. Kirk should have been fired. A group of teachers felt that if we had done this, we would not have jobs.
I am a former FCPS employee with a first hand knowledge of this situation. There are so many other things wrong with this particular principal (if he can be called that). The ethics board has an easy decision to make in this particular case...strip him of all educational credentials and opportunities. He did that to many of his "former" teachers because they didn't agree with the "Adam" way!!! Karma should not be kind!!!!
There is way more to the Kirk story. Some serious issues were observed and brought to the attention of his supervisor.
His supervisor was not only made aware of the situations but we were also told to take things out of our "Minutes" after the fact! Those same infractions were part of those minutes! He deserves to be fired and released from his duties!
I am editing a comment I received yesterday from Anonymous at March 15, 2012 1:25 PM.
The commenter said:
This "leader" is everything but a leader. Not only is he lacking the knowledge of academics and content, but is a poor excuse for moral ethics. He engaged in an open relationship with..."
And at that point I started getting skittish. It's not that I doubted the information. Indeed, I have spoken to Deep Springs staff and there do not appear to be many secrets. My problem is that I want KSN&C to be about educational issues rather than rumors we can't substantiate (that is, unless they become public record through court action). If that happens, in a story we cover, we'll tell it like it is.
The commenter goes on to say:
"Stu Silberman was made aware of this on numerous accounts and turned a blind eye!! To my knowledge...____ and _____were both removed from their positition (sic) in Fayette County, but Mr. Kirk still walks the halls of Deep Springs and pretends to be the principal. What are we teaching our children? It is disgusting people!! I can only pray that Mr. Shelton has his eyes more open that Stu!"
My concern is that there seems to be sufficient disrespect for Kirk as a leader (good teachers bailing out in substantial numbers due to their lack of faith in him and his educational knowledge) that the school is suffering.
Kirk is probably lucky that a new assessment system is beginning this year. It may be harder for the district to establish an impact on test scores.
I would have printed much more about this story but the Deep Springs sources who contributed a lot of information to KSN&C got cold feet and I agreed to not put them on the record.
The saga continues and it appears that Mr. Shelton is also turning a blind eye to all of the documentation given to him. There appears to be no hope nor any justice. The disappointment in the school system is great and anyone who wishes to keep their job keeps their mouth shut and names off any documentation.
June 2012: Vince Maddox addresses Deep Springs SBDM to say Kirk has broken SBDM law again. Due to this Darryl Thompson will attend every SBDM which includes a monthly work session in addition to regular SBDM meeting. This did not happen. Mr Thompson attend twice. The first time wasn't until October because downtown forgot. There should have been another suspension and indicators on kirks credentials. But there was not. In fact he should have been fired for breaking SBDM law again as is stated in policy. Who downtown is under pressure to keep this principal in place?
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