Decatur High students, alumni and community members are holding a rally in support of the school’s longtime media specialist Susan Riley, who was fired Friday afternoon by Superintendent David Dude.
The gathering’s scheduled for 7:30-9 a.m. Monday in front of the high school at 310 North McDonough St.
Organizers Sarah Stubbs and Sara Norman, both 2014 graduates, anticipate that 100 to 200 will show and plan having sound system for anyone wishing to speak.
For 19 years Riley has been a non-certified media assistant, although that barely describes her role at the high school. She has been an unofficial counselor/comforter/friend to hundreds of students, many of whom she’s stays in touch with long after graduation.
“You could be having the absolute worst day,” Stubbs said Sunday, “and then you’d hear that voice, ‘Hey darlin’,’ and that would turn everything around. She connected with everyone, from the most brilliant student, to the most struggling one.”
Dude couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday, though he released essentially the same statement on Facebook and in a number of emails to board members, commissioners and community members, pointing out he couldn’t share details because personnel issues are confidential.
“From time to time in life,” Dude wrote in one email, “we are faced with incredibly difficult decisions. This situation is one was one of those times for me. Such a decision is not made without serious and significant consideration of all relevant information.
“But know,” he wrote later in email “that the right decision and the popular decision are often not the same thing.”
Riley has gotten hundreds of responses showing support on her Facebook page. She spoke at length with the AJC on Saturday and Sunday, but has been advised by an attorney she’s considering retaining not to speak on the record.
A Gofundme account created for Riley’s legal expenses has raised $3,145.
Riley, 61, seems genuinely puzzled by the termination. She was told the reason would be given to her Monday when she would also get escorted into the school to retrieve her belongings.
Riley said that on the attorney’s advice she would not attend Monday’s rally.
All five of her children attended City Schools Decatur. In 2011 she was named as one of the city’s Hometown Heroes, principally for her “dedication to CSD students.”
Former school board member (2004-16) Julie Rhame said that teacher and staff firings are rare. She remembers only three during her time and only one was an immediate termination, when the person in question admitted to making racially-charged statements.
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