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Schools

Board puts off fate of principal

A lawyer for suspended principal Michael Ransaw says the superintendent hasn't adequately detailed charges against him.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published February 18, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - After an attorney for suspended Powell Middle School principal Michael Ransaw accused district staffers of bungling his client's case, School Board members decided to hold a special meeting next week to address his claims.

At the meeting, which will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, board members will listen to attorney Willie Jones elaborate his grievances and then rule on whether superintendent Wendy Tellone's charges against Ransaw are adequately detailed. The board also will consider Jones' request to have Ransaw immediately reinstated as principal of Powell Middle School. But it could be months before the board's final hearing on Ransaw.

The events on Tuesday night marked the latest chapter in the unraveling relationship between the school district and Ransaw.

"I'm the veteran on the board, and I've never seen anything like this," vice chairman Jim Malcolm said. "I don't have a clue as to when this is going to get over with."

On Nov. 19, Tellone suspended Ransaw with pay after learning of a state investigation that said he pawned a school laptop while working as an assistant principal at Deerfield Beach Middle School in 2001. On Dec. 14, the School Board suspended Ransaw without pay until the district finished its investigation.

In January, Tellone finished her investigation and recommended that Ransaw be fired for a range of violations that amounted to insubordination and gross misconduct. Tellone said that Ransaw deleted public records from school laptops after learning of the district's investigation and did not reveal what he knew about the state's ongoing investigation of his conduct in Broward.

After learning of Ransaw's pawning of the laptop, Broward officials suspended him for 10 days without pay and demoted him to teacher status. The state investigation largely mirrored the conclusions reached by Broward officials. State officials could levy a range of penalties against Ransaw's educator certificate.

On Tuesday, however, Jones squared off with W. Reynolds Allen, an attorney recently retained by the Sschool Board to serve as a legal adviser in its dealings with the Ransaw issue. When the School Board finally meets to rule on Tellone's recommendation to fire Ransaw, the board members will act as the judge and jury.

Jones told the School Board that Tellone had provided insufficient detail in her charges against Ransaw. He cited the charge that Ransaw had deleted files and noted that specific files had not been listed.

"What files has he deleted?" Jones asked.

Allen calmly noted all of Jones' claims. But when it became clear the proceedings could go on for hours, School Board members decided to hold a special meeting as soon as they could.

"Enumerate specifically what you want," Allen told Jones.

Jones also distributed a proposed timetable for holding Ransaw's final hearing.

According to that timetable, which has not yet been approved, Ransaw's fate would be decided by the School Board in April.

[Last modified February 18, 2005, 00:14:17]