Schoenlein “leaned over the desk pointing his finger at me and shouted, ‘Your numbers better be (expletive) right or I’ll kill you. I’ll (expletive) kill you.”
- Complaint filed by then Kettering City School Treasurer Steve Clark against then Superintendent James Schoenlein in December 2012.
“There are two sides to every story. That one is outright lies, gross exaggerations, massive fantasies and delusions of grandeur.”
- Schoenlein referring to Clark’s allegations in a July 14 memo from his attorney to the school board.
At the end of 2013, Kettering City Schools was celebrating voters’ approval of new levy funding, a clean audit from the state, and a glowing report card — one that ranked the district among Ohio’s elite in student growth for the second straight year.
Just seven months later, Kettering’s superintendent and treasurer have been ousted, a half-dozen other administrators and principals have left the district, the state auditor’s office is investigating levy campaign improprieties, and months of internal investigation have cost the district tens of thousands of dollars and unearthed ugly allegations of conflict, threats and possible law-breaking.
The rancor between Superintendent Jim Schoenlein and Treasurer Steve Clark reached such a pitch that in December 2012, according to a complaint Clark filed with the school board, Schoenlein threatened to kill him.
Much of the turmoil in the district stemmed from a conflict between the two administrators, both of whom accepted contract buyouts to resign this summer after getting placed on leave by the school board.
Schoenlein resigned June 2 after the board accused him of several missteps, including “a conscious decision to violate the law” by ordering school staff to use school time and resources to work on levy campaigns.
Clark resigned July 14, after the school board revised its original May 20 accusations against him. The board cited Clark for secretly taping multiple administrative meetings and making accusations about Kettering school programs to state officials without raising those issues to the school board and central office team.
But Clark’s attorney, David Duwel, fired back at the district the day Clark resigned, sending the board a 12-page memo that disputed many of the district’s claims. The memo states that school board policy allows Clark to report concerns of fraud directly to the state, and that Schoenlein and “certain board members” were the ones who operated “outside the circle of law.”
In its eagerness to be perceived as a school of excellence, the board condoned Schoenlein’s activities and “lost sight of its true mission for a moment in time,” Duwel wrote.
School board President George Bayless disputed the allegation that board members skirted state law. Schoenlein approached issues in innovative and unusual ways that the board often supported, he said, but the district did not operate outside the law.
Janet Cooper, the school board’s attorney, said the Duwel letter “is Steve’s perspective on things; it’s certainly not our perspective.”
“The bottom line is that the board told each of them, in their 2012 evaluations, to get along. And they didn’t,” Cooper said. “They’re about the two most different people imaginable. They have totally different ways of thinking. Jim is a big-picture visionary type, and Steve is more an in-the-box thinker. But they were at the very extremes of both ends.”
Death threat
Several school district officials said the conflict was long-running. But it exploded Dec. 4, 2012.
In preparing a report on how much the district spent on aides, Schoenlein “intentionally excluded the treasurer,” according to the school board. When Clark and his staff reviewed a copy of the report the day it was to be presented to the board, they arrived at a number $2 million different from Schoenlein’s.
According to a complaint Clark filed with the school board the next day, an angry Schoenlein “leaned over the desk pointing his finger at me and shouted, ‘Your numbers better be (expletive) right or I’ll kill you. I’ll (expletive) kill you.”
Asked to respond to Clark’s various allegations, Schoenlein offered only a two-sentence reply hinting that Duwel’s letter was an attempt to get Clark a big buyout.
“There are two sides to every story,” Schoenlein said. “That one (the Duwel letter) is outright lies, gross exaggerations, massive fantasies and delusions of grandeur.”
Duwel responded that he and Clark went over every word of the letter, going through 12 or 13 drafts to make sure it was factual.
“I’ll go to my grave telling you that stuff is honest and accurate as best as I know it and as best as Steve Clark knows it,” Duwel said.
Bizarre relationship
After the Dec. 4 incident, the school board scheduled both men to attend counseling. According to Duwel’s letter, Clark didn’t understand why he had to go but eventually agreed and withdrew his complaint, “because he knew the board was still backing Dr. Schoenlein.”
Duwel’s letter said Schoenlein then bullied Clark during the counseling sessions, with Clark complaining verbally about it to Cooper, the board’s attorney, at least twice. Cooper said this week she doesn’t recall those complaints, and Bayless said no such information was shared with the board. The counseling eventually ended with no action plan or formal summary ever written.
“The board’s failure to handle the counseling process totally destroyed Steve’s trust in the board and its counsel,” Duwel wrote, adding that Clark was hesitant to bring any further complaints to the school board.
Bayless acknowledged that the school district has strict policies against bullying, but questioned Clark’s account.
“I’m having a hard time accepting that, because I don’t think (Clark and Schoenlein) were together that much in counseling,” Bayless said. “So how could he be bullied?”
Duwel said Clark and Schoenlein had four or five joint counseling sessions.
Multiple district staffers called Schoenlein and Clark’s relationship bizarre, as they alternated between tearing each other down and then appearing to be friends. Just last week, the pair sat at the same table at a Kettering Rotary meeting, with Clark thanking his “good friend” Schoenlein for his contributions and wishing him well.
Audit still pending
Even as the district attempts to move on, with interviews of superintendent candidates continuing Monday, a state auditor’s investigation continues.
The auditor’s special investigative unit issued subpoenas in late January, seeking levy-related emails spanning multiple years from numerous district officials.
Schoenlein has admitted working on levy campaigns during school time. State law says schools can’t use public funds to pay staff to influence the outcome of a levy. But Schoenlein has said he doesn’t think he violated the law, because he worked many more hours than required running the district.
Bayless has said Kettering’s school board “probably should have intervened earlier” regarding the levy campaigning. Bayless served as levy treasurer in 2013, and former board member Jim Trent served as both levy committee co-chair and levy treasurer in 2010.
Kettering City Schools will have the renewal of a 6.9-mill levy on the Nov. 4 ballot. School begins for the district’s 7,200 students on Aug. 13.
The auditor’s office will not comment on Kettering’s situation, but some previous cases of campaign work on government time have led to felony charges of theft in office.
District spokeswoman Kari Basson said any legal problems in Kettering were limited to levy campaign issues.
“Never, ever were things done improperly, illegally, as far as the education of students,” she said.
‘We had to do something’
Kettering schools will begin this fall — the first year governed by Common Core standards and brand-new state tests – with a new superintendent, treasurer, student services director, two new curriculum leaders and five new principals.
Melissa Gallagher, president of Kettering’s teachers union, said some the district’s 550 teachers are feeling stressed over the unexpected turnover. But she doubts the issue will trickle into the classroom.
“The teachers know what they’re doing,” Gallagher said. They’re going to go in and work hard for the kids and we’ll continue to do the great job that we’ve done. In terms of day-to-day in the classroom, I really think it will have little impact.”
Gallagher said teachers “had great respect for Steve Clark and for his expertise and dedication in an extremely difficult position.” When Schoenlein was placed on leave, the teachers union lauded him for leading the district in a positive direction.
Some Kettering residents felt the same way. Jennifer Priske, whose daughter will be a Fairmont sophomore next year, questioned why Schoenlein and Clark were ousted.
“I don’t believe the board has justified some of the reasons they were let go,” she said. “(Their conflict) seems very petty to me.”
Kettering resident Mike Imwalle said Clark’s settlement, which ensures his pay and benefits through February 2016, seems too generous. The settlement with Clark and the three-month severance for Schoenlein will cost the district more than $300,000 combined.
In addition, Kettering City Schools ave spent more than $90,000 this year on attorneys’ fees related to the auditor’s investigation and the Schoenlein-Clark matter, with that total sure to climb.
Cooper said the board at first hoped the issue could be resolved, calling Schoenlein and Clark talented people who had brought the district success. But Bayless, the board president, said eventually the conflict threatened to poison much of district leadership.
“It was affecting the next level of people, not just Jim and Steve, and the board realized that,” Bayless said. “That’s where your real damage is going to happen. We won’t have those great report cards and programs and honors if that turmoil gets down to a low enough level. So we had to do something.”
Bayless said if the school board had terminated the pair without settling, it surely would have led to lawsuits that could have cost the district even more.
“In the long run, if you really fight it, it costs more than if you settle,” Bayless said. “As far as I’m concerned, the schools are ready to go, we’ve got good people in good spots, and they’re ready to teach our kids.”
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