A former Starkville High School theatre teacher is asking district leadership for an apology after he was removed from a play performance on campus last week.
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, however, has responded by banning him from all its campuses under threat of legal action.
Michael Dendy, who claims he resigned his position with SHS under duress last year, said he was forced on Thursday to miss SHS Theatre’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for reasons unknown to him and by no fault of his own.
The school district issued a statement Saturday acknowledging the ejection. It also references another instance in November when Dendy visited campus and called his continued presence a disruption.
“We are aware that a former teacher has been on campus twice in the last month. His actions created a situation where the school felt like his presence was disruptive, and he was asked to leave,” the district’s statement reads, yet it does not offer specifics of Dendy’s actions.
Dendy, at first, denied to The Dispatch he had visited campus in November. He later changed his statement to confirm he came to SHS and obtained a visitor’s pass before going to “pick up some stuff.”
On Nov. 11, he posted to Facebook that he “reclaimed (his) seat on the choir room couch” at SHS.
He also told The Dispatch he’s kept direct communication with many of his former students — some of whom are still minors attending SHS — since his resignation.
Dendy, who now lives in New Orleans, said he had told his former students he would attend Thursday’s play. When he arrived, he purchased his ticket and entered the auditorium. Before he could take his seat, an SHS administrator approached him and asked him to step outside.
“He says to me that they’re no longer my kids, I need to move on, we don’t want you here and we’re trying to move on as well,” Dendy said. “I asked him if he was being serious. He said there were two options: the easy way or he could call security.
“All I want is a formal apology from the school district,” Dendy said. “It’s never been a problem for a former teacher to come back and support their students.”
Dendy said someone with SOCSD contacted him on Friday to let him know he was banned from returning, at least until all his former students had graduated.
2016 departure
Both the school district and Dendy confirmed he resigned his job last spring, but the former teacher said he was unfairly forced to leave the district after joining the system in 2014.
Dendy said a photo in which he was pictured sitting at a table with beer bottles on it was taken of him during a trip with students to a national theatre competition in North Carolina earlier this year.
He said district officials apparently became upset at the suggestion he was drinking alcohol while serving as a chaperone, but the former teacher said he wasn’t drinking at the time and that the table simply had not yet been cleaned by restaurant staff.
“I was told to resign so they could still give me a recommendation if I tried to get another teaching job,” Dendy said. “It was like a courtesy thing, I guess. I was grateful for that at least.”
SOCSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway and school board members routinely do not comment on personnel matters, and no comment was offered about Dendy’s departure from the district.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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