MARYSVILLE — An elementary school principal criticized by her staff in a district-led investigation resigned Wednesday after reaching a settlement with the Marysville School District that will pay her more than $175,000.
In a split vote, the Marysville School Board accepted the resignation of Sunnyside Elementary School principal Jane Colson and approved the settlement Wednesday night.
Colson was placed on paid administrative leave Feb. 8 after allegations surfaced that she struck a teacher on her shoulder at the school last August.
Colson denied slapping the teacher.
“I never did it. Never,” she said.
The district’s investigator said in a report, “We are unable to prove or disprove the allegations.” He said he found no other teachers could confirm it happened, even though the incident allegedly happened in a classroom with other teachers present.
As part of the investigation, the district asked for staff perceptions of Colson’s leadership style and building climate.
Human resources director Terry Brandon, the investigator, wrote that virtually every teacher interviewed wanted to make sure their comments were confidential because they were afraid of retaliation.
He wrote: ” … The current building climate has elements of an unreasonably intimidating work environment and a lack of mutual trust.” He pointed to records showing seven Sunnyside teachers — or about 20 percent of the teaching staff — requested a transfer for the 2008-09 school year.
Brandon wrote: “Most teachers interviewed felt the pressure of perceived harassment, intimidation and bullying.”
Colson said the school and district were going through some changes in how literacy skills are taught and some teachers might have felt intimidated by her frequent visits to their classrooms and the pressure to learn the new instructional skills.
“I loved it there,” Colson said. “I had no intentions of ever not returning to Sunnyside.”
Superintendant Larry Nyland said the issues brought up in the investigation were concerning, but not grounds for Colson’s dismissal. However, rather than investing time and money into reassigning Colson to a new school, transferring another principal to Sunnyside and implementing a plan for Colson to address performance issues raised in the investigation, the district opted to settle.
Another consideration was the potential for a lawsuit. If Colson had sued, it would have cost the district at least $50,000 in court costs, even if the district prevailed, according to district documents.
“There’s important issues here that would have had to be worked on whether they’re at Sunnyside or at another building and this provides a chance for a fresh start,” Nyland said.
Mitch Cogdill, an Everett attorney who represented Colson, said his client received satisfactory evaluations from the school district and that Sunnyside has been one of the district’s highest performing elementary schools.
Cogdill called the investigation “completely shoddy” and that it left out key facts and statements supporting Colson.
“They took the false allegations and opened up the investigation to include other things that weren’t on the table when the investigation started, which is always troubling,” he said.
“She was offered a job at another district school and that’s when the settlement discussion was pursued by both sides,” Cogdill said.
Arden Watson, president of the Marysville Education Association, said she had heard of concerns among Sunnyside teachers in previous years.
“I feel until there was a full investigation that that was at the point the district realized how big this was,” she said. “It wasn’t an issue with one particular staff person or two people. It was much broader than that.”
School board members Don Hatch, Sherri Crenshaw and Cindy Erickson voted for the settlement. Michael Kundu and Darci Becker voted against it.
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
