With nine “yea” votes, The Charter School of Wilmington’s Board of Directors chose to immediately terminate Mr. Ron Russo from his position as school President at the Feb. 10 Board meeting.
The decision came after an executive, or private, session that readdressed “personnel issues” which was followed by a public session held in the cafeteria where students, faculty and parents spoke to the Board.
According to a nine-page Board statement, issues began in February 2008, when a female employee of the school directly complained to the Board that Russo had repeatedly sexually harassed her. The statement continued that in March 2008 an independent Human Relations investigation backed the complaints.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission notified the school in December 2008 that Russo was the basis of a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint.
According to statistics compiled by the EEOC, in the 2007 fiscal year 45.5 percent of sexual harassment charges filed with the EEOC and Fair Employment Practices agencies across the country had no reasonable cause.
The issue the Board took action against was that, after asking Russo to reform his behavior, he had, according to the Board’s quarterly review in October 2008, failed to do so.
The Board also listed favoritism, insubordination, complaints by parents of faculty management and non-compliance with school policies and procedures as elements of Russo’s “continued inappropriate behavior.”
The Board of Directors includes one representative for each Charter founding company, with two representing DuPont due to its monetary contribution, two parent representatives, a community representative and a non-voting faculty representative. Members include: Community Rep. Mr. Jerome Brown; Vice Chair and parent Rep. Mr. Leland Cross; parent Rep. Mr. Hector Figueroa; DuPont Rep. Mr. Robert Fry; Hercules Rep. Mr. Bruce Hough; Verizon Rep. Mr. Brian Magee; Christiana Care Rep. Mr. Raymond Seigfried; AstraZeneca Rep. Ms. Nina Sherak; Board Chair and Delmarva Power Rep. Ms. Lynn Srivastava; Faculty Rep. Dr. Rita Vasta; DuPont Rep. Mr. Keith Wing; and Treasurer and Wilmington Savings Fund Society Rep. Mr. Andy Yatzus.
A similar episode happened this past summer, when special Board meetings that were rumored to be attempts to remove Russo from the position of President occurred in June and July. The July 29 Board meeting was canceled when, in a joint letter to parents, Russo and Seigfried, who was Board Chair at the time, stated that “the great passion and concern for [Charter] expressed by the parents, faculty, and students has reminded us of the importance of renewing our efforts to engage in even more open and honest conversation with each other.”
Many attendees at the Feb. 10 meeting believed like those the past summer: that a large attendance would deter the Board from terminating Russo. In the week preceding the meeting, rumors and Facebook.com event pages, such as “Save Mr. Russo from the Board!...again” created by senior Helen Tang, worked to organize members of the student body.
Tang, who spoke during the public session, felt that the Board’s statement, published online, was designed to deter a large turnout, and was glad to see that it had not done so. When public session began, attendees had filled lunch tables and extra chairs and had begun to stand in the back.
In her opening address, Srivastava said she was “happy to see the turnout” and that it had exceeded her expectations.
Many attendees said they came for information, rather than to take a side.
“I don’t understand—you know Mr. Russo,” senior Shivani Sharma said, “Maybe I don’t know him well enough.”
Alumni Kyle Lefter ’04, who came to the Board meeting to support Russo, said the Board was not obvious in its actions.
“There’s nothing that’s laid out for anyone that states ‘this person,’ ‘this place,’” he said about the vagueness of the sexual harassment complaint. Lefter also disliked the complaints of favoritism and insubordination: “You can do a little better than that.”
In the Board’s statement, Russo’s insubordination is defined as continuing to “rally faculty and staff against the board of directors.” The statement also expressed that Russo “actively encouraged members of the CSW Community…to publicly oppose any action by the board” regarding Russo’s position. Senior council member Ben Dozier disagreed that Russo had encouraged students to speak out against the Board, especially in regards to Russo’s termination.
“I wish he would have,” Dosier said, adding that he never noticed Russo making any comment about the Board meetings.
Privacy somewhat constricted the flow of information.
“We tried very hard to provide whatever information we could. We put a lot of thought into those questions and answers,” Srivastatva said, referring to the question and answer part of the statement. On Feb. 6, the Parent’s Association sent out an email to parents asking for questions to include in the statement, which was available online Feb. 9. The Board also used the Internet to gather information, using Facebook.com, the Fix Red Clay weblog and comments left on online news articles.
Public comment began at 6:24, when senior council president Mike Perry drew ticket stubs out of a box. Due to the large turnout, the Parent’s Association organized a system where those wishing to speak received a ticket upon arrival and were to wait for the matching number to be called if selected at random.
Health teacher Ms. Sue Spilecki spoke during one round of numbers called.
“I am horrified at the injustice I see happening right now to Mr. Russo,” Spilecki said during public session. Spilecki also complained that she saw two lies in the opening of the Board statement: that the issue had been happening only since February 2008 and that the Board hired “an independent Human Relations professional.” Spilecki raised the point that Seigfried, Vice President of Christiana Care, hired a Christiana Care employee.
In an Aug. 12, 2008 letter to Delaware State Auditor Mr. R. Thomas Wagner, Jr., Russo wrote about a “misappropriation of public funds” by Seigfried. Russo wrote that he expected to be fired for writing to Wagner as a “gravely concerned private citizen about the abuse of taxpayer dollars, the misuse of public funds and breach of public trust by [Seigfried].”
Russo said that an expenditure of $10,000 to hire a PR firm was entered prematurely, and that almost all the money was spent on “totally unrelated, unauthorized matters... for [Seigfried’s] own private agenda.” In the letter, Russo also states that, according to the Board’s attorney’s invoice, research on Russo’s termination began the day before Seigfried entered the PR contract on May 22. No Board meetings were held in May.
Russo’s attorney, Mr. Thomas S. Neuberger, originally requested that the February Board meeting, which was announced a week beforehand, be postponed to a later date since he would not be able to represent his client. Neuberger, in a letter to Board legal representation, Mr. Alfred D’Angelo, Jr., said the Board had “circulated a highly defamatory two-page written communication” to faculty and staff.
At the meeting, there was an overall call for doing what was right for the school and the students.
“The course of action that is in the best interest of the school and the students and the parents does not involve my termination,” Russo said when he spoke at the meeting. During public comment, many students and parents also urged the Board to act in a positive way for the students.
Srivastava said that the members of the Board “really do care.”
“The Board has always been able to find direction of where to go for the students,” she said.
Members of the Board expressed similar opinions.
“All I care about is you guys—the students,” Figueroa said as he introduced himself. Figueroa was the only Board member who voted against the motion to terminate Russo, receiving a standing ovation from several audience members when he did so.
Hough was the only member who abstained. He decided to do so after hearing the public comments, feeling that additional measures were warranted before a final decision.
“As had been voiced and expressed by both parents and students during [public comment], I felt there was a need to take the issues to a third party mediator prior to making such a final decision regarding Mr. Russo’s position. Such a mediation would have allowed all facts to have been presented to an impartial third party fact finder before a decision on termination was made,” Hough said.
Srivastava noticed a number of reactions from the attendees; there were those who were taking sides, but there were also some who were confused and wanted more information. She also noticed a small number amount of faculty attending the Feb. 10 meeting and suggested that there were “a lot of people who did not speak because it would have been a difficult crowd.”
All who spoke during the public comment session were against Russo’s termination. Seigfried said that it was an “extremely difficult” situation and decision at the meeting, especially with public speakers exhibiting emotional outbursts.
Russo’s immediate termination was decided following the public comment. Charter’s Director of Education Dr. Kurt Hollstein began as interim President Feb. 11. According to Srivastava, the Board’s intent is to hold a national search and have a new President by fall of 2009.
Following the Board meeting, students expressed outrage and began organizing a protest for the following day. The Feb. 11 protest was arranged through text messages and facebook.com. Students were encouraged to wear white. The morning of the protest, students handed out small white papers encouraging peers to go to the auditorium after homeroom.
The protest changed to a first period student-only gathering approved by the school, and with no risk of penalties. Students waved brightly colored posters that read “No Russo, No Charter” and “Innocent Until Proven Guilty.”
Other students stayed in class.
“I am staying in class because I value my education,” senior Becca Roelofes said. “[Dr.] Hollstein said the best thing we can do is focus on our education.”
Members of Senior Council passed out a petition, urging “an independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Russo’s termination.” The petition further stated that if the requests were not granted, “further resistance” would be organized.
“If we can have some input on the Board, then that is a success to us,” Dozier said.
Junior Savannah Figueroa, Hector Figueroa’s daughter, attended the protest. She said that she thought her father was feeling “very proud” of his voting decision and also expressed pride in the student body.
“I’m very proud of how the school is reacting and I’m very proud of my father,” she said.
Hollstein, on his first day as interim President, briefly addressed the near capacity auditorium.
“I didn’t sleep well last night, as I can imagine neither did some of you,” Hollstein said, adding the students were “awesome” and he was impressed at how they were expressing their First Amendment rights.
Hollstein felt that a quick return to normalcy was important.
“It’s a tough time, but we’ll get through,” he said.
Before moving out onto the football field, senior class president Mike Perry addressed the students, echoing Hollstein’s stance on school unity, and to be “productive, not deconstructive.” Perry also emphasized not transferring negative feelings to Hollstein or teachers; students cheered in support of Hollstein during his address.
Perry said that he was unsure if the students would be able to rally for Russo’s return at this point, but should continue having an influence on the Board: “Stand up to the Board and make them feel the need to reform themselves.”
Despite change, the school has taken on a stance of perseverance. Expressed in a message found on Charter’s webpage signed by Hollstein and the faculty and staff, the school pledged to remain resolute.
“To [the students], we the administration, the faculty, and the staff make a promise that we will do everything possible to ensure that when our seniors toss their caps at graduation, they will feel the same pride as every class that has gone before them. And, we promise that every other student will feel the same confidence of being a Charter student as all of those who have walked the halls of this remarkable school — The Charter School of Wilmington.”
The next Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. in room 321.