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John Nicely, who broke the rules while trying to help a student, will return to Tarpon Springs High today.
By KATHERINE GAZELLA, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 14, 2002
TARPON SPRINGS -- A week ago, John Nicely said a tearful goodbye to students at Tarpon Springs High School, cleaned out his office and left the school where he was principal for more than 11 years.
Today, Nicely returns to Tarpon High on what is certain to be another emotionally charged day.
In a reversal of a controversial decision he made last week, Superintendent Howard Hinesley reinstated Nicely on Wednesday as Tarpon High's principal for the rest of the school year.
Hinesley said he should not have transferred Nicely in the middle of the school year for an incident involving a student's grade.
"I'm very appreciative that he's a big enough man to say he made a mistake," Nicely said. "I'm just so happy to return to a great school."
At a meeting Wednesday with Hinesley, Nicely learned that the school district would accept his proposal that he be reinstated for the rest of the year, receive a letter of reprimand, and apologize to the colleges that received a student's transcript with grades different from those on the transcript at Tarpon High.
After the school year, Nicely, 61, will return to being supervisor of work force development, the job he was transferred to last week.
Hinesley said he re-examined his decision to transfer Nicely after hearing from dozens of students, parents, faculty members and Tarpon Springs residents during a School Board meeting Tuesday night.
He still thinks Nicely made a mistake, and pointed out that Nicely has acknowledged making an error. But after listening to Nicely's supporters, he decided he should not have removed the principal in the middle of the school year.
"I realized in listening to them that maybe I should have listened more carefully to what he had to say," Hinesley said. "I just want to make sure that I treated Mr. Nicely fairly."
The decision to reinstate Nicely ends a tumultuous week and a half not only for Nicely but for the students, teachers and parents who rallied around him.
"There's going to be a homecoming party," said senior class president Martha Scoggins. "School will finally be back to normal."
Nicely's transfer resulted from a decision to help a student.
Because of the school's absentee policy, a student who misses 10 or more days in a nine-week period -- excused or unexcused -- automatically fails those classes. But students can appeal the failing grades, and the principal has the right to waive the policy.
Nicely made a deal with six seniors who had 10 or more absences that if they had no more unexcused absences the rest of the school year, their final grades would reflect what they otherwise would have earned. One of those students asked Nicely to send the passing grades to colleges. He agreed but told her he would tell the colleges she had failed if she had another unexcused absence.
On the transcript at Tarpon High, the grades were changed back to the F's. Having two different sets of grades created a "credibility problem" for the school district, Hinesley said.
Before he was reinstated Wednesday, things didn't look so bright for Nicely. At the start of the School Board's discussion about Nicely's transfer Tuesday night, Hinesley said he likes Nicely but stood behind his decision to make the transfer.
"It placed the school district, in my opinion, in a credibility issue," he said.
He referred to letters he solicited from officials at Florida State University and the University of South Florida, which referred to Nicely's action as a "serious error in judgment."
"Our admissions officers must know that the grades on the transcript that is submitted to the university are valid," said a letter from USF president Judy Genshaft.
Tom Gonzalez, an attorney representing the district in a lawsuit filed by former Countryside High School principal Sharon Lambeth, told board members they had one option.
"I don't believe there is any choice in this case other than to take the recommended action," he said, referring to the transfer.
He said there needs to be "uniformity of treatment" for people who have made similar actions. Lambeth was transferred from her principal's job for allowing a student to retake tests after graduation to help him get into college. She filed a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the school district, contending that a male principal in the same situation would not have been transferred.
School Board members Jane Gallucci and Linda Lerner were not happy with Gonzalez's comments.
"I don't like the tone of ... 'If you don't do this,' " Gallucci said. "What happens in the Lambeth case doesn't have anything to do" with the Nicely incident, she said.
"I look at it as a threat," Lerner said.
Lerner also wants Hinesley to make sure FSU and USF are aware of the district's policies.
"I don't think they understand our policy," Lerner said. The student in this case "got the grades she earned," and those universities need to be aware of it, she said.