Fired CES Principal Gives His Side

Central Elementary School principal Ralph Haynes (center) receives hugs from parents, teachers, and students upset with his firing on Thursday, March 15.

Mike Perleberg-Eagle 99.3

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - The principal fired for insubordination is firing back at Lawrenceburg Community Schools administrators.

Last Thursday, the school district’s Board of Trustees voted 7-0 to adopt a findings of fact and terminate the school corporation’s contract with Central Elementary School principal Ralph Haynes.

Haynes’ own finding of fact written by his attorney, John Watson of Sunman, is based on the testimony of other teachers at Central Elementary.

The document details Haynes being involved in an incident in the CES cafeteria with two students who were frequently in violation of school rules in March 2011.

A teacher who witnessed the episode said Haynes put his hands on a student but not in a threatening way.

About a month later, another student with a difficult disciplinary and academic record was caught sleeping during ISTEP+ testing in April 2011. Haynes admitted he did touch heads with the student he was disciplining, albeit unintentionally and only lightly. In it's own finding of fact, the administration claimed their heads butted.

Haynes said any other time he put his hands on a student, it was for their own well-being and teachers who testified for him agreed he was calm when disciplining students.

Others told a different story. A custodian at the school testified that he had seen Haynes angrily accost children at the school, hitting some of them on the head with his hand. The incidents were never reported, however, and Watson’s fact finding said the board could not attach any weight to the custodian’s testimony because it was contradictory and not credible.

“I never injured a student,” said Haynes. “No criminal charges were filed even after I met with (Lawrenceburg Police Department) Detective Jeremy Shepherd.”

After the April 2011 incident, Haynes was placed on an improvement plan and ordered by Superintendent Karl Galey to keep a daily log of his school related activities, complete an anger management course, and not to place his hands on any other student.

Haynes’ findings of fact also stated that the principal physically restrained a student engaged in very serious misbehavior which could have resulted in injury in November 2011. The incident was fully reported and Galey took no action, apparently feeling the contact was appropriate.

He completed the anger management course and was making progress from an assigned mentor, Lawrenceburg High School principal Bill Snyder.

Then on February 9, 2012, Haynes was asked by two teachers to address a high-functioning autistic student who was turning on faucets in the cafeteria.

“The instructional assistants were concerned because they felt the child’s safety might be compromised by turning on the hot water,” Haynes’ findings claimed.

Haynes told the student of disciplinary action to be taken in a calm, conversational tone and went to the child’s table to remove him from the cafeteria to talk further. The child then fell to the ground as Haynes was holding his wrist, but no other staff witnessed the fall.

“The child was led outside the cafeteria for a brief time, returned and apologized to kitchen staff, led back to his table and finished his lunch.  At no time did he appear to be injured, cry, or exhibit any other signs of distress,” the fact finding stated.

Haynes failed to enter the incident in his mandated daily log, violating the improvement plan he had been placed on. Haynes excused the omission because it was a busy day and he was preparing to go out of town.

A teacher stated during testimony that matter seemed so routine to her that there was nothing to report. Galey caught word of it from his wife who was volunteering in the cafeteria that day.

Four days later, Haynes was put on leave and ordered not to contact any school staff. The principal does admit to violating that order when he attempted to call and text two other principals.

Haynes initially lied to Galey about making the calls, but later admitted to it stating that he did not want to get the others in trouble.

Galey’s findings of fact adopted by the school board stated that Hayne’s exhibited “insubordination, neglect of duty, and other good or just cause” for his firing.

Haynes’ attorney says there is insufficient evidence that he was insubordinate.

“Significantly, it is clear that not all touching of students was felt to be prohibited by the Superintendent’s imposed probation and improvement plans,” Watson said, adding the omission of the February cafeteria incident did not rise to the level of willful refusal.

Galey’s order preventing Haynes from contracting school staff during his leave was also out of line, Watson said.

“Haynes was precluded from talking to witnesses to the incident on February 9 while the Superintendent had full access to the same witnesses and did in fact interview them all prior to the private conference authorized by statute with the Superintendent.. …Moreover, no contact was ever actually made with the administrators,” he wrote in Haynes’ version of events.

About 50 teachers, parents, and students came out in support of Haynes at Thursday’s school board meeting where he was fired.

“If Ralph had such "Anger Issues" wouldn't our children be really afraid of him?” one parent who wanted to remain unidentified told Eagle 99.3. “It’s the opposite; our kids respect him, and look up to him. Sometimes voices need to be raised, maybe a child needs to be pulled out of a classroom by the arm, or backed up against the wall. They need to take their teachers and elders seriously. These kids know they can get away with murder and they know it.”

Another parent wishing to remain anonymous stated, “I have always given him the benefit of the doubt and I believe he did the best he could under the circumstances he was placed under. Just this year a kid with documented anger management issues punched Mr. Haynes in the face! He has literally been beat up on the job and he was told by his bosses he can't discipline kids like that?”

CES teachers who testified before the board vouched for Haynes as an effective principal with an excellent relationship with all of the children.

“Witnesses called by the administration also stated categorically they do not feel Haynes engages in inappropriate discipline and that they have no concerns about the safety of children or the implementation of inappropriate discipline by Mr. Haynes,” the fact finding by Haynes’ attorney read.

The former principal tells Eagle 99.3 he is speaking with an attorney regarding a possible lawsuit, although one has not been filed yet.

Haynes, 54, came to Central Elementary School eight years ago after holding teaching and administrator positions in Bloomington and Washington, Indiana.

He said his firing from Lawrenceburg does not cancel his teaching or principal certification from the Indiana Department of Education. He is pursuing other education positions elsewhere.

LINKS:

Confrontations Lead To CES Principal's Firing

Elementary School Principal Placed On Leave