Principal is accused of creating an unsafe school
A suspended Shelby County Schools principal had similar allegations levied against him at his previous job in Buffalo, New York, according to news reports from 2014.
Terry Ross is serving a suspension with pay from Kingsbury High pending the outcome of an investigation led by Butler Snow law firm. Multiple teachers have alleged a culture of harassment and intimidation, Superintendent Dorsey Hopson acknowledged Tuesday.
Before coming to Kingsbury, Ross was the principal of Bennett High School in Buffalo Public Schools.
Less than a year into his efforts to turn around a struggling school, a teacher survey showed just three out of 48 teachers said the school was a safe place for teachers, according to a story in The Buffalo News.
“In an anonymous survey conducted by the Buffalo Teachers Federation, teachers painted a picture of weapons, drugs and near-daily fights and as-
saults,” the news story said. “They almost unanimously said the school is not safe for students or teachers, and they criticized Ross, calling him an inexperienced and ineffective leader not interested in forging a relationship with staff.”
Ross did not return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday or an email sent to his school district email address on Tuesday.
SCS said in a statement that when Ross was hired, the district “conducted the appropriate verifications, background check and verification of employment references. Nothing in his record disqualified him from employment.”
“We will reserve any further comment until the external firm completes its work,” the statement said.
Teachers filed nine grievances in the six months Ross was principal in Buffalo, according to the city’s newspaper.
In a television interview at the same time, two teachers said they felt unsafe in the building and that teacher morale was the lowest they’d seen.
A female teacher said she was told she complained too much.
The teachers said Ross was determined to lower suspension rates, to the point where unless someone was gravely harmed, violent conduct by students went unpunished.
It’s unclear under what circumstances Ross left Buffalo.
A records request for a copy of Ross’s personnel files in both Buffalo and in SCS is pending.
SCS said it would respond to the request by Aug. 17.
However, Memphis television station WREG Channel 3 reported receiving a copy of the file this week, and said it revealed a previous SCS suspension for not following proper testing procedure.
Ross is also under investigation for allegations he improperly changed students grades.
Hopson said Tuesday he believes there may be an explanation for those changes, and that the harassment allegations are the crux of the investigation.
Grade-changing, however, has plagued the district over the past two THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2018 years.
Ross is the second principal to be directly investigated for allegations of tampering with students’ grades.
An additional six schools are under investigation for having a high number of grade changes, and a state investigation is open into Trezevant High, where a secretary improperly changed more than 1,000 grades over four years, according to an investigation by the same firm now looking into Ross.
Former Kingsbury teacher Alesia Harris approached the board at its June meeting during public comment to raise concern about Ross.
She didn’t name him at the time, per the board’s rules for public comment, but said he lead by “intimidation and fear” and called him “nothing less than a bully.”
“I’ve been harassed in faculty meetings,” Harris told the board. “I’ve been told by the principal that a student who did not earn a passing grade was going to pass, and I could report him or tell whoever I wanted to tell he said that. Which is exactly what I’m doing here.”
Harris said Ross told her in a hallway, in an exchange her students overheard, that she was a problem, “as he stuck his finger in my face.”
“No less than three times I’ve been told by my principal to remember that you came to Kingsbury, Kingsbury didn’t come to you,” she said.
Harris said by phone Wednesday she met with investigators earlier in the day and was not willing to comment further on her experiences at the school. But she noted she’d searched for Ross on Google and was aware of the allegations made against him in Buffalo.
“I am glad that the district is finally acting on this,” Harris said. “But I will also say that I wish they would have done this sooner.”
SCS did not respond to questions Wednesday about whether the principal’s past was known when he was hired to be the leader at Kingsbury.
According to The Commercial Appeal’s archives, Ross previously worked in Memphis City Schools as the principal of Getwell Elementary in 2001.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer. pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.