EPSB Suspends Orazen's License

This from H-L:

The Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board has released an order temporarily suspending the license of a former Nicholas County principal who was acquitted of charges that he assaulted a student in February 2009.

Joseph F. Orazen was Nicholas County High School's principal when he was accused of slamming student Dusty Green, then 15, to the ground. During Orazen's trial in December, defense attorneys said the boy was cursing and yelling at the principal. After 20 minutes of deliberations, a Nicholas County jury found Orazen not guilty of fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

KSN&C Backstory:

Kentucky School News and Commentary: Principal Charged With ...
Feb 09, 2009
Nicholas County High School Principal Joe Orazen is accused of throwing a student to the ground, after an argument over a cell phone. The altercation with 15-year old Dusty Green was caught on school surveillance cameras. ...

Kentucky School News and Commentary: Orazen's Temperament
Feb 09, 2009
WLEX 18 has learned more about the Nicholas County principal who was captured on surveillance video in a physical confrontation with a students. Joe Orazen was arrested last Wednesday and charged with assaulting student Dusty Green, ...

Lose Cool - Lose Job

Feb 20, 2009

Nicholas County school spokesman Hank Bond declined to answer any questions in relation to Joseph Orazen after the school released a statement Wednesday afternoon that said the district will make no other comment or answer any questions ...

Orazen pleads not guilty to assault charge
Mar 05, 2009
It is not a hard to see how Orazen could have felt a direct challenge to his authority; a serious concern for a principal. But was he really threatened? At present, that argument hasn't been supported but may take shape in court on ...

Arguments heard in former Nicholas principal's assault trial
Dec 18, 2009
Did former Nicholas County Principal Joe Orazen use his knee to break the fall of Dusty Green, thus protecting him? Or did he deliver a threatened bodyslam just out of view of students in the school's lobby (but within view of the ...

Orazen pleads not guilty to assault charge

This from the Herald-Leader:

The lawyer representing a suspended Central Kentucky principal says his client felt threatened during an altercation with a student last month.

Nicholas County High School principal Joseph F. Orazen, 35, appeared in Nicholas District Court for an arraignment Wednesday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to fourth-degree assault.

"He's devastated," said Orazen's attorney, David Franklin of Lexington. "It's a bad situation he tried to avoid at all costs and couldn't do it."

KSN&C Backstory:

According to Franklin, Green refused to leave school property when he returned after school to pick up a confiscated cell phone, and "He wasn't going to take no for an answer."

"Believe me, there's a whole lot more to this than a 10-second video," Franklin said.

We do not yet have Orazen's side of the story in any detail, but the dispute seems to have revolved around whether Orazen was,

• advised by Green
• challenged by Green, or
• threatened by Green

Dusty Green described the altercation to WLEX this way,

"He's like - 'Don't make me slam you in front of everybody' - and I was like...'I don't think you can do that'. ...not saying, like, he couldn't, like, I don't think you're allowed."

But that is only the boy's story, and it seems clear that he was - at a minimum - not following school rules, and not following directions. Defiance is how situations get escalated.

After 26 years as a school principal, listening to all kinds of kids talk about all kinds of behaviors, I'm pretty sure of one thing - with the rarest of exceptions, when a student is in trouble, he's going to tell you that part of the truth that makes him look good. He's also going to leave some stuff out.

It is not a hard to see how Orazen could have felt a direct challenge to his authority; a serious concern for a principal. But was he really threatened? At present, that argument hasn't been supported but may take shape in court on April 1st.

Orazen's biggest problem may be whether or not he gets the benefit of the doubt from the court.

In most cases, people understand how difficult it is to work with some students. (I can't tell you how many parents [usually Dads] who told me they wouldn't have my job for all the tea in China.) In most cases, the principal should get the benefit of the doubt. But prior complaints filed against Orazen may throw that into question.

Since 2006, at least seven formal grievances were filed against Orazen citing angry confrontations.

Incredibly, Orazen was once suspended without pay for four days after refusing three requests from his own superintendent for a meeting! How Orazen kept his principalship after that stunt is astounding.

Superintendent Greg Reid might have chosen to slam Orazen instead of suspending him. But he couldn't.

Orazen's Temperament

WLEX 18 has learned more about the Nicholas County principal who was captured on surveillance video in a physical confrontation with a students.

Joe Orazen was arrested last Wednesday and charged with assaulting student Dusty Green, but this is not the first time Orazen has been accused of getting violent.

WLEX Video Here.

Orazen was suspended without pay for four days after the security camera video made national news,

LEX 18 has learned Orazen was also suspended without pay for four days in 2007, after Superintendent Greg Reid said on three occasions Orazen refused to meet with him.

Since 2006, at least seven formal public grievances have been filed against Orazen citing other angry confrontations...

Lose Cool - Lose Job

"Never lose your cool."

That was the advice I got from Fayette County Area Assistant Superintendent Dick Jones, in 1986, when I first became the Principal of Meadowthorpe Elementary School in Lexington. In those pre-KERA days, Jones said he could protect his principals from most of the pitfalls of the job, but there were a few things he couldn't protect us from. Bad discipline in the school; missing money, and anything inappropriate involving a student.

After many years as a public school administrator, Jones understood the way kids can get under your skin, bait you, and even challenge your manhood. But principals are expected to rise above such things. The job is hard. His advice was sound.

Nicholas principal suspended;

mother wants criminal charges

The Nicholas County High School principal who was placed on leave last week after an incident with a student has been suspended.

Nicholas County school spokesman Hank Bond declined to answer any questions in relation to Joseph Orazen after the school released a statement Wednesday afternoon that said the district will make no other comment or answer any questions "until due process has been served."

"Mr. Joe Orazen is suspended, and he has a right to request a hearing from the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education," the statement said.

The student, Dusty Green, 15, has been suspended for 10 days, said his mother, Michelle Green of Carlisle.

Michelle Green said she is outraged and wants criminal charges filed against Orazen. She said she has not yet hired a lawyer.

"I'm mad," she said. "I'm anxious for the criminal proceedings to go forward." ...