Internal warfare plagues Chinle Boarding School

A dministrative conflicts at Chinle Boarding School have escalated to the point the school has hired an outside investigator to sort out the situation and make recommendations.

As of this week, the junior high principal had filed for a restraining order against one teacher, another teacher had been on administrative leave almost since the beginning of the school year, and four of the five junior high teachers had signed a petition of "no confidence" in the principal.

English teacher David Shorey presented a letter of resignation at last week's school board meeting, along with a packet of letters and memos from other employees that, he says, support his allegations of a hostile work environment. The board refused to accept his resignation.

Meanwhile, his fellow English teacher, Barney Bush, is fighting termination, saying he is being unjustly punished.

Bush was placed on administrative leave in October for three reports of suspected child abuse or neglect, although the Navajo Nation Police did not find enough evidence to open an investigation or charge him in connection with any of them.

According to Bush, the incidents involved him allegedly using a swear word in the classroom, another closing the classroom door on a student's arm, and another "looking at a student funny."

Bush admits that he responded with a swear word when a student allegedly confronted him with a stream of invective, but says the door incident was an accident and he's not sure what the third student is talking about.

"With five new school board members coming in not knowing the situation, rather than listen to all the gossip and innuendo, they thought it best to bring in someone from outside the school to help them determine how to handle the situation," said the school's executive director, Don Hancock.

The investigator has already interviewed personnel at the school and will make his report at the next school board meeting, scheduled March 12 at 5:30 p.m. Meanwhile a hearing is scheduled today (Feb. 19) on the restraining order.

In a temporary protective order issued by Navajo Nation Family Court, Shorey is ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from Principal Melanie Haskan, a restriction Shorey says prevents him from doing his job.

Haskan alleges that Shorey pointed and yelled at her in a school hallway and at a school board meeting.

She also claims that at a professional development workshop, Shorey, who is Anishinabe, made the comment, "On my reservation, if an administrator is not doing their job, we shoot them."

Shorey denies making the remark and shouting at Haskan, although he has complained about her to the school board and signed the petition of no confidence.

In turn, he accuses Haskan of "bullying" tactics, including gossip-mongering, retaliating against the teachers who signed the petition by mentioning it in their evaluations, and ordering a female staffer to go home and change into a skirt when she was wearing trousers.

The allegations are supported by letters, e-mails and memos from the affected staffers.

In addition, Shorey says, Haskan never evaluated his performance and the school has yet to issue report cards for the students this year.

Haskan did not return a phone call Wednesday, but has said previously that her status as a federal employee precludes her talking to the media. She did not attend last week's school board meeting.

Shorey said he is baffled by the school board's refusal to accept his resignation after all the bad blood between himself and Haskan.

"What is this, a forced labor camp?" he asked.

Meanwhile, a parent who attended last week's board meeting worried that the school board is spending so much time responding to the faculty bickering that the students are being left out of the equation.

"I sat through that whole meeting, and didn't once hear them mention the children," she said.