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Editorial: Collier County public schools
Principal’s firing sends unmistakable message
The case against Ron Miller
- DOCUMENTS: Read Ron Miller's e-mails (WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT) 568 kb .pdf file
- DOCUMENTS: Read Dennis Thompson's first letter to Ron Miller. 128 kb .pdf file
- DOCUMENTS: Read Dennis Thompson's second letter to Ron Miller. 156 kb .pdf file
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The superintendent moved decisively to remove Ron Miller as the principal of Barron Collier High School on Nov. 27.
On Dec. 13, after further investigation, the Collier County School Board backed Dennis Thompson and took the next step, firing Miller for exchanging lewd e-mails during office hours with a teacher, a staff member he helped hire and a woman outside the school system.
Miller has retained legal counsel and plans an administrative appeal. We are eager to hear what Miller, who declined to return phone calls Tuesday and early Wednesday, has to say. If he wants to give his side before a formal hearing, we can help get that message to the public at any time.
The graphic content of the e-mails released by the school system to the public so far is all we have to go by. Copies of key public records, with some meriting sexual-content advisories before viewing, are available with this editorial and our news coverage.
Official statements from Thompson and school system Human Resources Executive Director Allun Hamblett spell out the school system’s stand:
-- “It appears that you (Miller) may well have violated multiple district policies, practices and procedures as well as the Code of Ethics of the Educational Profession in Florida.’’
-- “You ... knowingly permitted such behavior in violation of district practices of which you were aware, as one in a leadership position, as being unacceptable.”
-- “This calls into question your commitment to honoring district policies, procedures and professional ethics. It would also evidence poor judgment and a violation of trust if determined to be true.”
-- “During the investigative interview, your statements to the investigator were evasive, cavalier, contradictory and perhaps not truthful. This failure to cooperate fully and truthfully in a district investigation is inherently problematic, insubordinate and a violation of professional ethics that one in a leadership position would be expected to uphold.”
-- Miller has shown “a complete disregard for the district’s character traits of education, honesty, respect, responsibility and self-control.”
-- “... Other employees came across such communications and found them offensive and deeply upsetting which has negatively affected the work environment at Barron Collier High School.’’
-- “... It is clear that you believed you could snub district policies, procedures and professional ethics with impunity and get away with it. You have violated basic standards of trust, professional judgment, ethics, and decency.”
Bottom line: “The types of behavior we expect from students and faculty were violated here.”
Then there is the advisory on each e-mail to and from Miller’s office. That advisory says the school system’s computers are to be used for official business only and each transmission is a public record. “There should be no expectation of privacy,” the notice says.
In his handling of the first such case since becoming superintendent in August, with the investigation to continue in the new year, Thompson has sent a message and the board has backed him. Together they stand committed to professionalism, dignity in public education and safe workplaces. They are doing what needs to be done in the public interest — unless Miller can show otherwise.
Comments
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This is crazy - A Board Member can inappropriately touch/kiss, whatever you want to call it, with more than one person - and NOTHING comes of it -- just a buried story in the NDN, but when ANYONE else in the District has an indescretion - BAM - FIRED in a blink of an eye. Explain this to me please. ...... I question the validity of this entire situation - Maybe Mr. Thompson is making room for yet another of his northern buddies at our premier high school - One more time, things that make you want to go hmmmmmmmmmmm?????? This District is gonna crash and burn - what a sad sad state of affairs... thank you Actress Linda, Ged-Boy, and the Dickster - You have accomplished your goal of dismantling the system - Your days on the dais are numbered.........
#1 Posted by stupified on December 19, 2007 at 8:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Richard Calabrese, should be removed from office and become free to sit at his kithen table and do a personal check book audit of his behaviors!
#2 Posted by teachtrouble on December 19, 2007 at 8:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
stupified ---- your name speaks for itself. teachtrouble, get a life.
I swear you are the same person, spouting off over and over again.
Do you work for Curatolo?
The facts also speak for themeselves. Give it a rest. You are the first to respond to this school news nearly always. You are boring. Nobody cares what you think.
Great editorial. Hopefully, this guy Thompson will start to clean things up around here.
Too bad he doesn't run the so-called "Chamber."
#3 Posted by hokerpoke on December 19, 2007 at 9:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
THank you Mr. Abbott, or is it Mrs. Thompson, aka hokerpoke for your comments above - you must be on actress abbotts payroll - she's gonna need you with the election coming up to root for her - cuz her light is almost burned out..... good luck man!
#4 Posted by stupified on December 19, 2007 at 10:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I never thought I would be saying this but, I completely agree with the decision to fire Mr. Miller. His conduct was totally unprofessional. As educators, whether we like or not, we are held to a higher standard. As principal of the high school the expectation is even greater. We are all fully aware that we have no expectation of privacy in school e-mails. It states this on EVERY e-mail sent or received. For him to engage in this behavior using the workplace mail says as much about his cognitive abilities as it does about his ethical compass.
#5 Posted by mandypup on December 19, 2007 at 10:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mandypup, I agree with your comment completely, that is what makes this situation with Mr. Miller even more suspicious - no one can be THAT stupid and then choose to fight the charges - There has to be more to this story than meets the eye - there just HAS to be........
#6 Posted by stupified on December 20, 2007 at 5:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You should read the e-mails.....icky. This has no place on the school mail. If I had a child in this school I would expect this man to be gone. What adults do on their own time in their personal e-mails is another thing. There is absolutely NO excuse for this to have played out on the school mail. It would have been negligent in my opinion to allow this man to remain in his position.
#7 Posted by mandypup on December 20, 2007 at 5:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ndn wrote: "We are eager to hear what Miller, ... has to say. If he wants to give his side ..., we can help get that message to the public at any time."
Yesterday, in a futile effort to contact two different reporters at ndn (both of my email messages were blocked by ndn), I endeavored to learn the extent to which ndn genuinely seeks to inform the public, about REAL news regarding senior officials' wrong doing, not just salacious gossip, such as that Miller is accused of, but forgery, fraud, and plagiarism committed by faculty and administrators at Edison College, with conspiracy to commit fraud by officials at Florida Gulf Coast "university".
Perhaps ndn blocked my email messages, out of fear that my allegations have nothing to do with bathroom behaviour, such as that alleged to have been committed by Miller. Or, perhaps, ndn's publisher and editorial staff have read my submission to the news-press forum, and realized that whatever little I had to "contribute" was not really newsworthy?
http://www.news-press.net/phpBB2/view...
Miller was fired for allegedly sending prurient email messages. I was fired for refusing to associate my credentials with a requirement (not an option) for nursing students to purchase a fraudulent textbook, in essence, requiring my subornation of the forgery and fraud committed by Edison College faculty and the publisher, Wiley. Does ndn really want to get the news out, to the public, concerning allegations of wrong doing by senior, publically remunerated officials not simply at a local high school, but at FGCU and Edison College? True, the "news" that I have to offer does not concern bathroom GOSSIP. It does not concern sex. Maybe it is just too boring for the readership of ndn? Fraud? Yawn. How dull. Who cares? Let's get back to Miller!
#8 Posted by tomtobias on December 20, 2007 at 8:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hokerpoke - you're right. Very difficult to buy in to anything that teachtrouble or stupified has to write. Neither can see the forest for the trees and their prejudice overrides any valid points they would ever have to say.
#9 Posted by naplesregular on December 20, 2007 at 9:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It is so easy for some people to waste time and space with nothing but personal attacks when the have no awareness of the situations or facts that exist.
If it is prejudice to side with facts, I am proud to be type-cast! I am amazed by how some people can have the facts come into the "SUNSHINE" finally and still be so blind! I guess some people just are not comfortable dealing with the light!
We are getting closer by the day to more and more coming out! Then we can talk about the forest and the trees!
Have a wonderful Holiday, maybe the joy of the season ............. well we can hope!
#10 Posted by teachtrouble on December 20, 2007 at 10:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Teach - the problem I have is that your tune never changes. You're like a pitbull with my arm in its mouth that only knows one speed and has no ability/inclination to try and see the big picture.
Did you ever notice that when some people are so righteous that even when some people inwardly agree with them, they feel compelled to play the Devil's Advocate? That's how I feel with you.
#11 Posted by naplesregular on December 20, 2007 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yahoo/AOL/HotMail/GMAIL are free email services... Why Ron ? :)
That's all i have to say...
Pursuant to School Board policy and administrative procedures, this
e-mail system is the property of the School District of Collier County
and to be used for official business only. In addition, all users are
cautioned that messages sent through this system are subject to the
Public Records Law of the State of Florida and also to review by the
school system. There should be no expectation of privacy.
#12 Posted by deepthroat on December 22, 2007 at 12:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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