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Greek school's president agrees to shift control to vice president

Parents say his heavy-handed manner has caused a revolving door of seven principals in the four years the school has been open.

DUNEDIN - Faced with angry parents, the founder of a Greek-immersion charter school agreed to loosen his grip on the school slightly in order to keep the school's principal from quitting.

George Poumakis, president of the board of directors of Athenian Academy Charter School in Dunedin, was pressed to resign Monday night by parents worried that his control of the school was the reason seven principals have fled the school since it opened its doors in 2000.

But instead of resigning, Poumakis kept his title as president and instead agreed to shift responsibility to board vice president Alex Veloudos, making Veloudos the "operational vice president."

"From the outside looking in, we can't stand another shakeup like this," Chad Tippin, father of a first-grader, told Poumakis during the meeting. "If you founded it and you drive it into the ground, that's what you'll be remembered for."

Principal Gay Hazlewood joined the school this summer, the latest in a line of leaders who have resigned or been fired in the school's short history. Former employees and parents say Poumakis' heavy-handed manner has been mostly to blame.

Hazlewood announced last week she would resign, parents and board member Niki Demetriou said, unless Poumakis abdicated his control.

While Poumakis has been busy making arrangements to open additional Greek-immersion schools in Pasco and Hillsborough counties as soon as 2005, the Dunedin school has been suffering financially, Pinellas County school officials maintain.

It also has fallen short on a recent health inspection - an issue Poumakis said could result in the school's closure if it is not addressed.

With 102 students, the school has at least 30 students fewer than it expected this year, Poumakis said.

Monday's special meeting of the board was confusing at times.

The board took up motions without adding them to the agenda. At one point, board member Lemonia Poumakis, George Poumakis' wife, turned off the tape recorder at her husband's request. Board members made plans to meet each other for school business outside regularly scheduled board meetings.

Even parents who attended said after the meeting they weren't sure exactly what had happened.

"Who's the president now?" said Morfia Schwarz, mother of one student at the school, as she left the meeting.

Veloudos reassured some gathered in the hallway that things would be different. Last week, Poumakis was approved to open a similar school in Pasco County in 2005.

"He's not going to be running meetings," Veloudos said. "He's got other schools he wants to take care of now - this is his ticket."

The proposed Athenian Academy of Pasco County would be run by an entirely different board - with the exception of Poumakis and his wife.