Teachers Feud With Riverside Schools Chief Petition Demands Jerry Wilson’S Resignation, But Superintendent Says He Won’T Step Down

Nearly 100 teachers in the Riverside School District have demanded the resignation of Superintendent Jerry Wilson, accusing him of poor leadership and disrespect for teachers.

Riverside High School teacher Marvin Sather, who is Washington state’s Teacher of the Year, has threatened to quit if Wilson doesn’t resign.

Wilson, however, says he has no intention of stepping down.

“Teachers don’t dictate who the superintendent is going to be,” Wilson said Wednesday, following Tuesday night’s contentious school board meeting at which teachers presented their petition seeking Wilson’s ouster.

The petition, signed by 99 of the district’s 125 teachers, is the culmination of years of frustration with Wilson, teachers say.

In 1997, teachers gave him a vote of no confidence.

Sather, a 31-year veteran who teaches English, said it pained him to stand before the board and about 150 audience members to voice his concerns. But he said he felt he had no other choice.

“How can I remain a part of a system swimming in negativity which hurts children, the community and the staff?” Sather asked the board. “As a person of integrity, I can come up with only one response. Unless the climate changes rapidly, I will have no choice but to offer my resignation as a symbol to the community of the depth of despair which exists in this district.”

Wilson, 59, seemed unfazed by Sather’s speech to the board.

“He was mumbling something,” Wilson said Wednesday. “If he leaves, we’ll have to get another English teacher, I suppose.” As superintendent, Wilson oversees the high school, Riverside Middle School, and Riverside and Chattaroy elementary schools, which serve about 2,500 students. He receives about $140,000 a year in salary and benefits.

Wilson blames the teachers’ unrest on contract negotiations. Riverside teachers have been working without a contract since their old one expired in August.

“I’m the guy with the money and they aren’t getting the money they want, so I’m an easy target,” Wilson said.

Wilson said he is not concerned by the teachers’ complaints.

“Why should I be?” he said. “I have no problem with my abilities as superintendent. I’ve been here 20 years, and we’ve done very well.”

He added that it’s not really his job to work with teachers.

“Many superintendents don’t have much to do with teachers,” Wilson said.

Rather, he said, it’s the superintendent’s job to work with principals, facilities and maintenance heads and other administrators.

High school teacher Cory Neville said Wilson doesn’t get it.

“I’ve got news for him,” Neville said. “It’s not about money. It’s not about a contract. It’s about the state of education in this district. If we settle that contract tomorrow, we will still not be happy until he’s gone.”

With statewide education reform in high gear, Riverside is missing the boat, Neville said.

“Our curriculum is in disarray on all levels,” Neville said. “Principals work with shrinking budgets every year.”

And teachers, he said, are not getting the training they need to teach to the new and tougher standards set by the state, known as the “essential academic learning requirements.”

And then there’s the unresolved mold problem at Riverside High School.

Teachers began complaining of foul smells and respiratory problems in 1997. Mold was discovered in many walls that were part of the 1994 addition to the school.

Frustrated that the district hadn’t resolved the problem, seven teachers, staff members and a student filed a class action lawsuit in February against the school district and the companies that made and installed the windows in the addition.

They are seeking compensation for medical costs and assurances that the district will fix the problem and monitor indoor air quality.

For now, 18 classrooms remain closed and unusable because of the problem, Neville said.

Teachers complain that their concerns have been ignored for years because the five-member school board unanimously supported Wilson.

However, that dynamic changed when Patrick Payne and Paula Thorngate were elected to the board in November. However, the board has been locked in a stalemate, split 2-2 over the controversy.

The fifth seat, which was vacated in February after Mark Anderson moved out of the area, remains open. Educational Service District 101 will select a new board member from a pool of candidates by early next month.

Sather, who was honored by Gov. Gary Locke and state Superintendent Terry Bergeson earlier this year, said his decision to leave may hinge on who fills the vacant seat.

“They have the ability to fire him,” he said. “We will just have to see what happens.”

School board President Janet Hansen, who supports Wilson, said she hopes the teachers and Wilson can resolve their differences.

“I think there is a lot of common ground we can focus on,” she said. “If we come together with positive energy, we can have positive results.”

Board member Patrick Payne, who concurs with the teachers’ criticism, is hoping the new board member will break the deadlock.

“If we don’t get the right person (on the board), I will possibly pull my kids and send them somewhere else,” he said.

He wouldn’t be the first. About a half-dozen parents have pulled their kids out of the district’s schools recently, he said.

Laureen and Chad Chamberlin pulled their two sons out of school just before spring break.

“I’m home-schooling them, but it is my hope someday they can return to Riverside,” Laureen Chamberlin said.

Marie Ingraham said she’s considering taking her remaining two children out of the schools. To her relief, her fifth-grader was accepted into a private school Wednesday.

“I have the high accolades for the teachers themselves (at Riverside),” said Ingraham, who volunteers in the schools. “But it’s hard to work when you have no support, no communication and no training. This whole thing boils down to our kids getting the education they deserve.”

Map: Riveside School District