City Schools Decatur has quietly launched the “impartial third party” investigation of Decatur High media clerk Susan Riley.
Board Chairman Annie Caiola said Sunday night she thinks the investigation began late last week, and that the investigator’s identification won’t be revealed except possibly upon the process’s completion.
There is no timetable, she added, for the investigation’s duration.
According to Caiola, Riley, her attorney David Hughes, Superintendent David Dude and the board all agreed to not publically release the investigator’s name or comment on investigation details.
“The reason is not to keep secrets,” she said. “We want to preserve and protect the integrity of an impartial investigation. Very few know all the facts leading to [Riley’s initial] termination. We don’t want [anyone without this knowledge] influencing the investigation.”
Dude fired Riley on Feb. 26, then two days later changed her status to suspension with pay pending investigation. Riley, 61, has worked at the high school for 19 years.
Last Tuesday’s school board meeting drew a standing-room only crowd to CSD’s central office, the majority hoping to get an update on Riley’s status. None was given, but after the regular (and public) meeting Dude told the AJC he’d call with the investigator’s name following that evening’s private executive session.
Several hours later, however, he sent an email saying, “There’s nothing more to report.”
On Friday CSD’s Communications Director Courtney Burnett forwarded a two-sentence email written by Dude (but not initially sent to the AJC) confirming the investigation was underway.
Dude did not return several phone interview requests made through Burnett over the weekend.
In a brief interview Thursday Hughes said, “For now the only ‘on the record’ statement I have is that we’ll cooperate with the review.”
CSD is also not revealing how much the investigator’s getting paid. Caiola, herself an attorney, said that, “I don’t know myself what the compensation arrangements are and I don’t know if legally we have to reveal it.”
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