Birdville school officials have investigated and dismissed a complaint that Haltom High School Principal Clarence Simmons created a hostile work environment in which students and teachers were harassed and discriminated against.
A grievance filed May 22 by the United Educators Association also accused Simmons and administrators under him of illegal, immoral and unethical behavior that violated the state education code and state and federal laws. Retired history teacher Lloyd Sizemore is also listed as a complainant.Birdville district officials, while dismissing the grievance on June 11 because it was not filed within 15 days of the alleged violations, did investigate and found no wrongdoing by Simmons or his staff.District spokesman Mark Thomas said: "We take these grievances seriously. We didn't find any basis for his [Sizemore's] grievance."Steven Poole, the teachers association's deputy executive director, said that he knew that the complaint was not filed using the proper guidelines and that no appeal is planned."We wanted to make the administrators aware of the problems at Haltom High, and we accomplished that," he said.Simmons could not be reached for comment. Simmons, who just completed his first year as principal, was hired to help Haltom High as it struggled with low test scores.The complaint included the singling out of special-needs students and those who qualified for free and reduced-price lunches. The complaint said those students were forced to sit at separate tables and were given peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.Simmons was also accused of denying teachers their 30-minute "duty-free" lunch periods, of not explaining heightened security and of creating a hostile environment that caused experienced teachers to leave.In his response to the grievance, hearing officer Rick Kempe, who is also Birdville's director of student services, wrote that Haltom High was having problems with students using lost ID cards or IDs from other students at lunch. The "unsuspecting" students did not know their lunches were stolen from them. The students were fed baked potatoes or pizza, not peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Kempe wrote.Another complaint accused the district of not properly checking Simmons' background before he was hired. It says several employees from Williamsville High School in New York, where he was principal from 1999 to 2008, filed complaints, including one of sexual harassment. The teachers association was concerned about the negative effect this would have at the high school.Thomas said: "Just because things are alleged on a blog or across the Internet doesn't mean they are factual. We did our due diligence in checking references. It is an unfounded allegation."Elizabeth Campbell, 817-390-7696 Twitter: @fwstliz