Indiana No-DUI Principal resigns

"I have always talked with students and others

about the importance of high standards and making good decisions."

"In this instance, I failed both expectations. . . .

I failed to follow my own guiding principles."

-- Scott Syverson

This from the Indianapolis Star:

Ex-Fishers High principal hopes for similar post
Resignation after DUI charges shouldn't end educator's career, his attorney says

FISHERS, Ind. -- The attorney for Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson said the administrator hoped to land another job in another Indiana school district after his resignation Thursday over a drunken driving case.

"Scott Syverson is a standup guy who loves Fishers High School and has always acted in its best interests," attorney Edward O. DeLaney said after a Hamilton Southeastern School Board vote and signatures concluded the resignation agreement Thursday morning...

..."His resignation is one final and painful step in doing what he can for that school," he said.

Syverson, 42, avoided board action to fire him Thursday by resigning. With a promise not to sue the district for any perceived offense, he also secured $25,000 in severance pay.

School Board members voted 7-0 to accept the offer, ending the "personnel matter" they initiated after a Dec. 22 traffic stop that led to drunken driving charges against Syverson....

...Minutes after 1 a.m. on Dec. 22, Syverson was driving his 2004 Infiniti on 96th Street west of Allisonville Road when a Fishers police officer saw the car weaving toward a curb and stopped him.

Syverson had just left the Blue Crew Sports Grill on 96th Street, where he was drinking with two fellow administrators. He was headed toward his home in Carmel when he was stopped.

The administrator was shown on police video denying he'd been drinking and asking whether he could just continue home. Officer Kevin Kobli conducted field sobriety tests; on the breath test for measuring alcohol, Syverson registered 0.18. A driver with a level of 0.08 is considered to be intoxicated.

Instead of taking him into custody, however, Kobli, who knew Syverson as the Fishers principal, decided to drive him home....

...[Superintendent Concetta] Raimondi has acknowledged that Syverson stopped by her home hours before the traffic stop for an annual Christmas party that included alcoholic drinks.

Although she said she does not think Syverson was impaired when he left her home two hours before the traffic stop, Raimondi said she has considered making future staff parties dry ones...

..."I think the board will ask that I use my best discretion, as I always have in the past." ...

...Syverson's trial is set for March 24. He is charged with two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, one as a Class C misdemeanor and one as a Class A misdemeanor punishable by as much as one year in jail.

Deadline passes for the No-DUI principal

The 15-day limit for suspended Fishers High School principal Scott Syverson to request a hearing to oppose a termination of his contract has passed, and Hamilton Southeastern Schools officials are positioned to vote when they meet Feb. 7.

The school board scheduled the vote on Syverson's contract after he was suspended for a Dec. 22 traffic stop on 96th Street west of Allisonville Road.

Syverson failed a series of sobriety tests in the stop by a Fishers police officer, but was driven home and not arrested.

After Police Chief George Kehl determined he should have been arrested, prosecutors charged him with drunken driving.

Syverson was suspended Jan. 4 and notified of the proposed termination soon after that.

Syverson is scheduled to appear in court in March for a bench trial on two counts of drunken driving.

This from the Indianapolis Star.

Principal Suspended over DUI. Board considers termnation.

Hamilton Southeastern Schools [Indiana] officials decided today to suspend Fishers High School principal Scott Syverson, who was charged Thursday with two counts of drunken driving in connection with a Dec. 22 traffic stop.

The Hamilton Southeastern Schools board agreed to meet next month for a vote on terminating Syverson's contract.

Assistant principal Jason Urban will take over as interim principal.

The board had convened an executive session today to discuss findings related to the Dec. 22 traffic stop, to determine whether Syverson had violated district employment rules and to decide if disciplinary action was warranted.

Prior to the meeting, board president Jeff Sturgis had indicated there were concerns among board members that the incident had compromised Syverson's ability to continue as an effective leader...

This from the Indianapolis Star. Photo from Atfishers.com.

Principal charged with drunken driving, as students petition board for leniency

More from the Indianapolis Star:

The Hamilton County [Indiana] prosecutor today charged Fishers High School principal Scott Syverson with drunken driving, 12 days after he failed a breath test and a police officer drove him home instead of arresting him.

Syverson’s apparent intoxication during a police stop on Dec. 22 is also being investigated by the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Board of Trustees, which will meet Friday to discuss the case — and Syverson’s fate...

...At the same time the charges were announced, a group of Fishers students were getting signatures on their petition supporting the principal.In an attempt
to influence the board’s decision, Fishers High School senior and class president Mike Dunn organized a petition drive that brought dozens of students to the school Wednesday.Sitting at the school’s entrance, he obtained 141 signatures for presentation to the board...

...“I’m a big supporter of second chances,” said 18-year-old Sara Ling, a Fishers High School senior and student body president who was among those to sign the petition.“And I think the school should give him one.” ...

After media reports on the incident... Syverson presented a public apology for his behavior.“I am profoundly saddened and disappointed because I could have made far better choices and failed to do so,” his written statement said.

The Fishers police have also been under pressure for preceived preferential treatment. Captain Dave Dunbar who told the [non]arresting officer to use his discretion, acknowledged some responsibility for the incorrect decision. In a statement, Chief George Kehl said,

"...We will not punish, reprimand, or suspend Officer Kobli. He has been punished enough.

The lesson learned here is that our policy toward managing arrests of suspected drunken drivers needs to be reviewed and refined. We will begin this process immediately."

Students React to the upscale Indiana [No] DUI principal

He blew twice the legal limit after police stopped him for swerving his car and hitting curbs at 1 a.m. But instead of being arrested, police play taxi. Now comes word that after drinking at his superintendent's home, Scott Syverson made another stop.

So the board of education decided it needed an investigation. So who do they call upon? Why, the superintendent he had been drinking with, of course.

This from the Indianapolis Star: Video screenshot from Fisher Police video shows Syverson with his BFF Officer Kevin Kobli.

Charges may yet be filed in the case of Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson, who a week ago was stopped and then driven home by a Fishers police officer, even though police said Syverson failed roadside sobriety tests.

Hamilton County [Indiana] Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp [told the Indianapolis Star] Friday that she could complete her investigation by the end of next week. The prosecutor and the Hamilton Southeastern School Board and superintendent initiated investigations after Fishers police revealed Thursday, following inquiries from news media, that the principal was considered to be drunk when a police officer stopped his weaving car just after 1 a.m. Dec. 22 and then drove him safely home. There was no arrest and no police report of the incident.

Board President Jeff Sturgis said the board's investigation shows Syverson had left a party hosted by Superintendent Concetta Raimondi two hours before his traffic stop and continued drinking elsewhere....

...Superintendent Raimondi, who is leading the district's investigation into Syverson's conduct that night, was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Sturgis, the School Board president, said members recognized the potential conflict involved with the superintendent's investigation into drinking that may have occurred at her home.

Sturgis said he and the board members also are gathering information, however, including the details that show Syverson had been drinking elsewhere, too.

Hamilton County high school students share their thoughts about the incident involving Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson:

• "It sends a message that is against what they tell us we can and can't do. I'm shocked that the police let him go. I'm wondering what was up with that. . . . It seems that something should happen to him, even if he wasn't arrested. . . . I talk to him a lot, and he is one of the administrators I like the most. But everyone is going to give him a hard time after this."Kevin Schlatter, 16, Fishers High

• "Just by him getting away with it shows that he tried to use his power. If he tries to send that message to us, I don't know if anyone can take it serious anymore," especially considering how alcohol and drug warnings are frequently given to students. "They have us attend these convocations about drinking and drug use before the prom, so it's kind of ironic that this would happen."Craig Murray, 17, Fishers High

• "I've heard a bunch of students from HSE (neighboring Hamilton Southeastern High School) making jokes about it."Josh Heltsley, 17, Fishers High

• "I think it is unfair that he got off because anyone else would have gotten a DUI, and yet they let him go because of who he was."Chris Rogers, 16, Hamilton Southeastern High, Fishers

• The lesson was that "if you know certain people, you will get off. . . . Now, maybe kids who are better off will think they can get away with things, too."Daniel Porter, 16, Carmel High School---

For many Hamilton County high school students, Friday's lesson was hypocrisy -- with an introduction to irony.

Daniel Porter, 16, who attends Carmel High School, said his classmates had heard
about it, too. The lesson, he said, was that "if you know certain people, you will get off." "Now, maybe kids who are better off will think they can get away with things, too."

Principal gets drunk with Superintendent, blows twice legal limit, then gets a pass from police

Today's Indianapolis Star decried the decision that excused a high school principal Scott Syverson from arrest for drunk driving. Syverson was stopped shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday while driving home from a Christmas party hosted by Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Concetta Raimondi. According to Fishers Police Chief George Kehl , he should have been arrested and taken to jail. A breath test showed him at twice the legal limit.

A Fishers Indiana police officer's decision to take an intoxicated high school principal home instead of arresting him for drunken driving was the wrong one, Fishers Police Chief George Kehl said. "It doesn't make us look very good," said Kehl.

Matter of principal: No arrest

was big mistake

Our position: The public was badly served by an officer's decision not to arrest a high school principal accused of driving drunk.

No one accused of drunken driving should ever get the breaks that Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson received last weekend.

Syverson, according to Fishers Police, badly failed a roadside sobriety test after he was stopped for driving erratically at 1 a.m. Saturday. The high school educator, a leader of impressionable teens, recorded a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 percent on a portable breath test, more than twice the legal limit.

Syverson should have been immediately arrested. He should have been hauled to jail. He should now be facing a court date on charges that could carry a heavy fine, possible prison time and the loss of his license.

Instead, Fishers Police Officer Kevin Kobli simply gave Syverson a ride home. He was allowed to sleep off in his own bed the evidence of a dangerous crime. Kobli even drove Syverson's wife back to the scene to retrieve the car....