Four Western Heights teachers resign

Four teachers in the Western Heights district, including the former head of the high school English department, resigned this week after the school board voted to limit support for a teacher walkout,

The Oklahoman confirmed Friday.

The resignations are effective at the end of the current school year.

Steve Wedel, who oversaw the English department at Western Heights High School for 10 years, said he turned in his letter of resignation Friday morning with a heavy heart.

“I felt pretty empty afterwards. Western Heights has pretty much been my life the past 12 years,” he said. “I did feel strongly about doing it because of the lack of respect from the superintendent and the school board.”

On Monday, the school board voted 4-1 to limit the walkout to one day and resume classes the following day, despite pleas from teachers, students, parents and others to let teachers return to the Capitol.

About 30 teachers and support staff ignored the board and the threat of disciplinary action and participated in the walkout on Tuesday.

Several who defied the board vote defended their actions.

“It made me lose a lot of respect and hope for the school board,” one teacher said. “We’ve been trying to change the culture at Western Heights. When you lose staff that care about the district you can’t change culture.”

Wedel and others said they felt the school board disrespected those who voiced their opinions at the board meeting.

“The final straw was the superintendent and board chair, the way they talked to my colleagues and my students,” he said.

Attempts to reach Superintendent Joe Kitchens or school board President Robert Everman for this story were unsuccessful.

On Tuesday, Kitchens said he supported the board’s decision because the Legislature had acted the previous week to fund average teacher pay raises of about $6,000.

“We considered that as affirmative action on behalf of our teachers, our support people, the schools of Oklahoma,” he said. “I’ll always believe that was a historic vote of historic proportions. Our heart was full of joy that our teachers would get a pay raise of that magnitude.”

Earlier in the week, Kitchens provided a letter from the school district’s attorney, who said support and certified employees who walked off the job Tuesday would be “conducting an illegal strike” in violation of their agreement and subject to disciplinary action according to board policy.

District administration, meanwhile, has called an emergency board meeting for Thursday night, but the purpose of the meeting was unclear Friday.

The resignations were not limited to teachers and are expected to continue, Wedel said.

In a Facebook post, Western Heights High School Principal Paul McQueen said he submitted a formal resignation letter to Kitchens this week, adding that his decision was not related to the “current circumstances.”

A member of the district’s support staff is also said to have resigned this week but that couldn’t be confirmed by a district official.