The five-week-old investigation of fired/suspended Decatur High media clerk Susan Riley has concluded, Decatur schools Superintendent David Dude told the AJC Tuesday night. However, the overall inquiry apparently remains active.
During an interview before the monthly school-board meeting Dude said he wasn’t ready to announce a decision regarding Riley or further elaborate on the investigation’s findings.
“The Riley piece has concluded, but I can’t comment on anything else that might be going on,” Dude said. “I hope to wrap up the review this week. I’ll let you know once anything definitive occurs.”
Riley, who has worked at the high school for 19 years, was fired on Feb. 26 with initially no reasons given. On Feb. 28, after a weekend where hundreds of parents, students and well-wishers posted messages on social media supporting Riley, Dude changed her status to suspension with pay.
The superintendent admitted to the AJC a few days later, “I didn’t know Susan’s history here.” As for changing his mind he said, “Over the weekend [he became aware of] several allegations … They were credible enough to determine if they’d come to light earlier, I never would’ve terminated her but would’ve put her on paid leave.”
The school district hired third-party investigator Jonathan Poole on March 7 to investigate Riley's termination while also trying to determine "whether or not the superintendent received accurate information about the reason for [Riley's'] termination."
Poole’s fee is $235 an hour.
Dude, along with Riley and her attorney David Hughes have said very little about the review ever since.
But that didn’t prevent roughly 25 Riley supporters from showing up to Tuesday’s board meeting. There was no formal mention of Riley made by the board or Dude during the meeting, and only two people spoke during the public comment portion.
One of these was Decatur attorney Tom Stubbs, who has been a one-man Riley activist since the day she was fired.
“I will say Dr. Dude has never for a moment backed down from any correspondence with me,” Stubbs told the audience. “We were exchanging emails at 5:45 this morning, and I’ve heard he’s sent emails to reporters at 1 a.m.
“So maybe,” Stubbs said, “He needs to set some priorities and get some much-needed sleep so he can remain our superintendent for a long time. Therefore I look forward to a wonderful announcement about Susan returning to our high school.”
The only other speaker on the matter Tuesday was Laurie Gorbatkin, who’s been friends with Riley for over 20 years.
“If this board and you, Dr. Dude, allow truth and facts to prevail, I know Susan will be reinstated … implicit in that outcome, however, is the sad fact that that means our superintendent had to have been lied to by the staff he relied on to bring him the facts … If so, if lies were told, those responsible need to be terminated.”
Neither Riley nor her attorney were present at the school board meeting.
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