A decision may come as early as Tuesday on Susan Riley, the Decatur High School media clerk who was fired, then put on paid leave instead after a community outcry.
David Dude, Decatur superintendent, had said earlier that he anticipated a resolution on Riley’s status shortly after spring break, April 4-8. There is no mention of Riley on the agenda for the school board’s Tuesday meeting, which does include an executive session regarding personnel matters. Decatur attorney Tom Stubbs, a longtime Riley friend and advocate, says he expects a crowd.
“Those of us who are concerned about Susan plan to attend and urge the board to do right by her. I don’t know yet if I’ll speak, or if anyone else will speak, but we will show up,” Stubbs said.
Dude, who was out of town, didn’t respond to several attempts to reach him for comment.
“We’ve cooperated with the reviewer picked by Dr. Dude,” Riley’s attorney David Hughes said, when he and Riley gave an exclusive interview to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Part of that cooperation is not to comment on the review while it’s taking place. We haven’t gotten any details on the review.”
Riley said she doubts she’ll ever talk publicly about the past six weeks. “If my story at DHS has to end,” she said, “then I want it to end the day before” she was fired. “Everything after detracts from what I did. I do want to go back to work at Decatur. I miss the kids. I think about them right now and hope they’re behaving during spring break and being careful driving.
“But the firing—no. I don’t want to go there.”
Riley, 61, has worked at the high school 19 years. Her title has always been “media clerk,” though supporters say she’s also been a comforter, friend and unofficial counselor to hundred of students, many of whom stay in touch with her long after graduation.
Reaction was swift after Dude fired her Feb. 26, as she was seeking a promotion and potential raise. Hundreds posted messages supporting her through social media and emailed Dude. A rally for her outside the school drew about 175 people, and about 100 packed the March 8 school board meeting.
Two days after the firing, Dude changed his mind and put Riley on indefinite paid leave, promising an “impartial third-party investigator.” He has given no details of the investigation since retaining Atlanta attorney Jonathan R. Poole on March 7 for $235 an hour. According to a letter written by Poole he was hired to investigate Riley’s termination and determine “whether or not the superintendent received accurate information about the reasons for (Riley’s) termination.”
Hughes said last month that reasons cited for Riley’s firing included taking home an iPad, not following a new job plan and not keeping confidential a human-resources investigation of her complaints about mistreatment by the administration.
Dude has said not all the reasons for Riley’s initial firing have been disclosed and information that is public contains “material inaccuracies.”
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