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.

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 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....