A veteran West Gadsden High School teacher was sent to timeout last week, plucked from her art classroom into a hall monitor position, after her principal claimed she wasn't safely supervising students.
Jonnie Clarke, the 59-year-old teacher — subjected to pitying glances thrown from co-workers and former students while sitting in an almost too-small desk in the corner of a hallway — said that Principal James Mills accused her of criticizing his leadership to district officials.
Her subsequent removal, Clarke said, is an "act of retaliation" and "public humiliation." She denies ever voicing complaints about her boss.
"The kids loved being in my class," she said. "I loved teaching art and seeing kids create things. I am just kind of at a loss on why this happened."
Mills, a first-time principal new to the consolidated middle-high school, said his decision to remove Clarke was prompted by several "documented" instances of students exhibiting unruly behavior.
"Her move is based on my job as a principal," Mills said. "It had nothing to do with her being critical of my leadership. I am at West Gadsden to turn it around, and in the process, I am making sure it has the most effective teachers in front of students."
Clarke will be transferred to a position at the school's media center this week and she will have "multiple opportunities" to improve through professional development, he added. Superintendent Reginald James supports Mills' decision.
Clarke holds several teaching certifications and was an art teacher and Exceptional Student Educator for years — working at Munroe Elementary, Gadsden Central Academy, East Gadsden High School and Florida Hospital in the past.
She recently transferred from a resource teacher position at Gretna Elementary to West Gadsden. Mills said she requested the switch; Clarke contends he recruited her and that she was eager to get back into an art classroom.
Mills would not elaborate on specific cases of student misbehavior, but Clarke describes being cited for students getting out of their seats, a small fight between two students that she resolved within a minute and two students arm-wrestling just before the bell rang. Routines during art class differ from those in a traditional classroom, she explained. Students have to pack up art supplies, turn in projects and clean their work stations.
Since Mills took the helm of the school, a handful of teachers have issued complaints about him, said Ronte Harris, president of the Gadsden County Classroom Teachers Association, the local teachers union.
Harris planned to discuss Clarke's dismissal from teaching, the workplace climate at certain schools and salary raises during a Gadsden County School Board meeting on Tuesday.
"In a county that cannot recruit and retain qualified teachers, having a district that refuses to work with those that are qualified is doing the community a disservice," he said. "This is employee bullying… This is about our working conditions."
