Category Archives: Stephen Green

Teachers Fired For Pro Trump Remarks? Superintendent Green Responds


Stan Jester
DeKalb County
Board Of Education

Cross Keys High School teachers, Diane Clark and Susan Petre, resigned “in lieu of termination,” district officials said. Both teachers were removed from their classrooms on Nov. 10 pending investigations into claims they made statements about illegal immigrants, tying it in to Donald Trump’s presidential election.
DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Stephen Green issued a statement in February saying, “Our schools will be safe places for learning and teaching. We will not tolerate any form of bullying or discrimination … on or off District property … that interferes with learning or the rights of others.”
Since then, some news outlets have taken this quote and run with it …

SCHOOLTEACHERS FIRED FOR PRO-TRUMP REMARKS
Employees of a Georgia school district known for its diversity of refugees and migrants – legal and illegal – are being told not to express themselves on or off campus if their views on immigration line up with those of President Donald Trump. If their words are considered not “welcoming” of refugees and migrants, they will face investigation and possible termination.

GEORGIA TEACHERS FIRED FOR PRO-TRUMP COMMENTS
DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Stephen Green issued a warning to teachers in the suburban Georgia County to refrain from promoting President Trump’s policies on border security and legal immigration. Since the warning was issued two teachers were reportedly forced to resign.



Dyana Bagby

WHAT HAPPENED?
Dyana Bagby with the Reporter Newspaper wrote a good piece on the school district’s investigation, CROSS KEYS TEACHERS LEAVE AFTER DSPUTED CLAIMS OF TRUMP-INSPIRED THREATS.

DeKalb Schools has released its investigative report detailing allegations that the teachers, Diane Clark and Susan Petre, threatened students with deportation. According to memos from the DeKalb schools Office of Legal Affairs, both teachers were given the choice to leave their jobs or be fired.
Clark
According to the investigation a parent called the DeKalb school’s superintendent’s office and said her son told her that Clark told students if they continued to misbehave in class “she would be making a call to the Department of Immigration.”
Clark said she is consulting a lawyer. In the DeKalb Schools report, she denied threatening anyone and said she actually spoke in support of students.
Petre
A teacher said on the day after the election one of Petre’s students told her that Petre told her class that their parents are to blame for the “problems and fears” students have about deportations and also that it was their parents fault for deportation fears because their parents brought children illegally to the U.S.
Petre said in the interview she told students that undocumented people break the law by moving to the U.S., but she also told her students she would always advocate for them. “What might have been misinterpreted was that I also stated we are a nation of laws and that undocumented people who came here broke the law,” Petre wrote in a statement to the principal.
Petre said that telling her students she was voting for Trump was a mistake. Petre also said she “never, ever threatened anyone with deportation. I said only criminals should be deported, period.”
Continue reading complete article here >>

Superintendent Stephen Green

Dr. Stephen Green
CEO & Superintendent, DeKalb County School District

A conservative news and opinion website and online news aggregator has falsely reported that DeKalb County School District employees have been fired for their political views. It is important to know that this outlet never contacted the District or me to discuss the facts.
The article inaccurately represents the voluntary departure of three school district employees, two teachers and one nurse. These former employees had been investigated by our school system for comments suggesting DeKalb students with immigrant backgrounds faced deportation. Unfortunately, these comments were publicly available to students and families and negatively impacted the employees’ effectiveness in their schools.
These former employees received full due process of law and school board regulations after allegations came to light of their inappropriate comments and actions toward students.
Following fair and thorough school district investigations by the appropriate school principals, those principals and the regional superintendent of these employees unanimously recommended termination. All three employees provided written/oral comments and were afforded a full chance to rebut allegations and challenge any recommendations. All three voluntarily left the system without termination.
We are a public education system. We receive public tax funding. We are required by federal and state authority to educate every student who comes into our system. Students must only provide information such as proof of residency, immunization records, and proof of age … not green cards or immigration status.
We fully respect the free speech and all other constitutional rights of our employees, but actions by DeKalb staff members that interfere with their ability to effectively perform their jobs or interfere with our students’ rights to receive education are simply not acceptable.
We value all students, no matter their birth homes or heritages. We love them, and we respect what their presence here says about the goodness and generosity of America. Our diversity is our strength.
We strongly support the diversity of our school system, and we greatly value our role in supporting our immigrant population through the benefits of quality education. This is a core belief. We will not tolerate any form of bullying or discrimination … on or off district property … that interferes with employees’ ability to effectively perform their jobs or that interferes with learning and the rights of others.

DeKalb Schools Superintendent Statement on Betsy DeVos

Betsy Devos was confirmed this afternoon as the next Secretary of Education. DeVos and DeKalb schools underline the differences in philosophy in how to fix public education. Any thoughts?
DeVos believes a child’s education should not be limited by race, income, zip code, disability, home language, or background.

Betsy DeVos

Betsy DeVos
United States Secretary of Education

We do not have equal educational opportunity in America. This is not just an inconvenient truth, it is immoral.
Let the education dollars follow each child, instead of forcing the child to follow the dollars. This is pretty straightforward. And it’s how you go from a closed system to an open system that encourages innovation. People deserve choices and options.

DEKALB SUPERINTENDENT STATEMENT ON BETSY DEVOS CONFIRMATION AS U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

Superintendent Stephen Green

Dr. Stephen Green
CEO & Superintendent, DeKalb County School District

The DeKalb County School District welcomes Secretary DeVos to her position as Secretary of Education.
We invite Secretary DeVos to join us at a point of common understanding for DeKalb public schools and public schools everywhere: The true mission of education should be providing every student – gifted, mentally challenged, expatriated, or burdened by distracting socioeconomic or family needs – with the foundational elements to succeed.
We ask Secretary DeVos to lead a transformation in solving the most serious problem facing public schools today – a real and growing need for dedicated services and programs that help address the consequences of poverty (mobility, nutrition, emotional, family instability, health, etc.). These problems affect education in ways no standardized tests can measure.
For kids to succeed, we must shift from politics to problem-solving. We invite Secretary DeVos to become our partner in finding ways to give public schools what they truly need to succeed. It’s time to bring together resources … and resourceful collaboration … to support socioeconomic improvements that boost schools and students.