Former Starkville High School principal is finally free to speak about what lead up to her 2009 resignation, and the story she told is one of harassment.
“I resigned because current administration made it absolutely clear that she didn”t want me to be her high school principal,” Kathi Wilson said in an interview Saturday. “I was mistreated. They paid me for that, and my career is continuing.”
Through it all, she said the quality of the people of Starkville is evident.
Wilson came to the Starkville School District in July 2005 from her job as a principal at Newton city schools. She left in July 2009 to become an assistant superintendent for the Holmes County School District, a position she holds today.
Former Superintendent Judy Couey was promoted from assistant superintendent to superintendent as Wilson began her fourth year as principal. Wilson”s first year was marked by a vocal group of teachers critical of her performance, a failed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge, and an assault charge.
The EEOC charge was ultimately dropped and the assault charge was non-adjudicated.
After her contract expired in 2009, Wilson filed her own EEOC suit against the school district alleging age, sex and race discrimination. She claims she was harassed until she resigned. In April, she received a cash settlement for her lawsuit against the district.
There are mixed opinions about Wilson”s tenure. The following is her story:
Wilson was hired by then-Superintendent Phil Burchfield, who gave her a wealth of information about the high school and told her she had her work cut out for her.
“It seemed the biggest problem at the school was a lack of procedures and the discipline was pretty horrible with the children,” Wilson said.
The first thing she did was get the grounds cleaned up and landscaped. She said she was warmly welcomed by parents, students and community members. But the school began to get a lot of bad publicity for fights. By December, Wilson said the problems with fights had been cleared up, and she began to make other changes.
“There were teachers who were not coming to work and not reporting they weren”t coming to work. Teachers were leaving early and not saying that. Some were going to tanning salons, nail salons and hair salons,” Wilson said. “When I said you have to stop doing these things, people don”t like change. (That system) was working for them.”
Wilson said some who objected to the changes she was making wanted to get rid of her. Wilson is African-American, and she said the most outspoken were a group of seven white teachers. This group filed EEOC charges against her alleging racism.
“(Burchfield) told me to do what you were hired to do,” Wilson said.
Since the charges stemmed from accusations of her in her official role, the school district handled her defense. An investigation was made and the charges dropped.
After this, Wilson said three teachers filed a federal complaint alleging discrimination, and the district settled with them. But it didn”t stop there, she said.
“The same group needed another angle,” she said. “One of the same people said she was assaulted.”
Wilson was not arrested, but she had to stand trial for the charge. Originally found guilty, her attorney appealed and the charge ended with non-adjudication, a non-judgement.
“The judge sent the lawyers back and said they had to work it out,” Wilson said.
Years two and three were mostly uneventful, with her focus on academic achievement, attendance, discipline and closing achievement gaps.
Then the trouble began, Wilson said.
“When Ms. Couey became superintendent … she and I engaged in a conversation in which she said ”I didn”t hire you, I inherited you, and if I had been given the chance, I probably would not have hired you,”” Wilson said.
She said it one was thing after another the entire fourth year.
“I was harassed every day by that current administration,” Wilson said.
She gave several examples:
n The day after the presidential election, Wilson said Couey called her to say she heard that Wilson told the students not to say Barack Obama”s name. Wilson said she went on the public address system to tell students that “while I acknowledge the significance of last night, we”re here to have school.”
She implemented a state-sanctioned course that would prepare students to take algebra and was questioned about this, although she said principals regularly add and remove classes as needed.
n She got a letter of reprimand for not being game administrator at an away basketball game in Tupelo where an audience member was hit by a stray ball that broke her nose.
“So I turned in my letter of resignation,” Wilson said.
This action came after Wilson said Couey told her to provide many documents from the school. After she pulled the documents, Couey “showed up for impromptu, horrible evaluation. Then she called back and said the documents weren”t sufficient,” Wilson said.
After that phone call, Wilson said she got lightheaded and couldn”t breathe, and had her assistant call an ambulance.
After spending half a day in the hospital and being taken home, Wilson said Couey sent a letter to her saying she still didn”t have the documents she needed and she was gong to suspend her recommendation that Wilson”s contract be renewed.
When she gave Couey her letter of resignation as of June 30, “she said, ”I don”t think this is unexpected for either of us,”” Wilson said.
Wilson said the harassment didn”t stop after she announced her resignation. To those who asked, she said she was not forced out but chose to leave to pursue other opportunities.
Wilson said immediately after graduation, Couey told her to report every day to the Greensboro Center instead of her office at the high school. She ended up finishing her contract under doctor-ordered medical leave.
“I resigned under duress, so I filed a lawsuit against the Starkville School District and Judy Couey,” WIlson said.
She said her EEOC claim was determined to have cause. Her attorney called her resignation a “constructed termination. They constructed an environment that was so hostile that I couldn”t stay there and work,” WIlson said.
She filed charges in August 2009, she and Couey were deposed in January 2011 and in April, they went before a mediator at the federal court in Aberdeen.
“The Starkville School District made an offer to settle. I said ”No, I want my day in court. Somebody needs to know I”m not the bad guy.” I”ve never, ever told my story, and somebody needs to hear it,” she said.
She said she told her story to the mediator who believed her, and then she accepted a settlement from the school district.
“My attorney said their willingness to settle is enough to let people know they did (her) an injustice,” Wilson said.
Her non-disclosure agreement won”t allow her to reveal the settlement she received.
Despite the problems she encountered while a SSD administrator, Wilson had only good things to say about the people of Starkville and the schools.
“For every bad instance there are three to four good instances,” she said.
“Do I hate that it happened to me? Yes. Do I bear any ill will or animosity? No,” Wilson said. “It”s just what happened.”
She even commented on Couey”s own recent troubles.
“I”m probably the person who can understand the hurt most, because something similar happened to me,” she said. “I don”t know what she did or what cost her her job, but I know what it feels like to say you can”t go on your campus.”
She also praised her current district, Holmes County.
“It”s a great school district. It”s in the Mississippi Delta, so I work very hard, but you don”t find an administrator there who doesn”t work very hard,” she said. “We had four failing schools when I first went there, but at end of the first year, none were failing.”
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