Jackson Free Press

This is an expanded web edition of an article that appeared in the Feb. 14 print edition.

The six Ellis family women formed a powerful phalanx of support in the third row of the Jackson Public School Board's hearing room on Monday, their eyes intent on the goings-on, pencils poised above note pads. On the brightly lit dais, separated from spectators by a shallow moat of bare floor, the seating arrangement clearly defined the opposing sides of the controversy: On stage right, Michael Ellis, fired Chastain Middle School principal, sat flanked by his attorneys, Lisa Ross and Louis Watson. On stage left, JPS district counsel JoAnne Shepherd sat between two JPS hired guns, attorneys Armin Moeller and Betty Mallett. The purpose of the twice-delayed hearing, which Michael Ellis' requested in response to his termination on Dec. 18, 2006, was to determine whether there were grounds for Ellis' termination.

On Jan. 18, Ellis and his wife, Wilkins Elementary School Interim Principal Dr. Rachel Ellis, filed a Title VII lawsuit against JPS and School Superintendent Dr. Earl Watkins for sexual harassment, retaliation and failure to promote Rachel Ellis because of her race and sex, among other things. In the suit, Michael Ellis asserts that Dr. Watkins fired him in retribution for reporting the harassment. Watkins has vehemently denied the harassment or that Ellis' firing was an act of retribution. He has also declared that he will counter-sue Ellis for defamation, although he has filed no such suit to date.

In Ellis' termination letter, Watkins states that Ellis "failed to follow the approval process to hire or retain employees beyond their stated ending date of employment," that he "failed to achieve significant progress in the area of your school's performance," that Chastain had "steadily declined" and was "in a state of chaos and disruption." Watkins also accused Ellis of neglecting his "duty as principal by failing to maintain a safe environment conducive to learning," that he had an unacceptable and intolerable "disregard for authority and the policies" of the JPS school district, constituting a "lack of sound professional judgment."

Most damning, Watkins accused Ellis of falsifying payroll documents, a charge resulting from an internal audit report, currently under investigation by Mississippi State Auditor Phil Bryant. In Tuesday's testimony, Loretta Talbert, JPS Assistant Internal Auditor, disclosed that Ellis' office manager, Sandra Hupperich informed auditor Pam White that Ellis had made changes in payroll records. That action initiated the audit, according to Talbert. Shepherd said White became suspicious because of whiteout on the payroll records.

The audit found that Ellis had made changes to one office assistant's time sheet totaling 49 hours and revealed several errors in coding attributed to Hupperich, in addition to other minor administrative issues. In the audit summary, the recommendations included corrective actions for the office manager and reparation by Ellis or the office assistant in question for the 49 hours. In a preliminary report to JPS by Bryant, the unaccounted-for changes currently stand at 29 hours, according to Charlie Bonds, executive director of the internal audit department.

In a statement to the Jackson Free Press, Ross indicated the assistant's salary is $7.50 per hour, however Bonds said on Tuesday that JPS had not lost any money: JPS would reduce employees' available leave time to cover any discrepancies or dock the employee's current or future pay. Bonds also testified that Ellis had not profited from the changes, and had initialed the changes to indicate he had made them.

"Nothing was done to falsify anything," Ellis told the JFP.

On Monday, Shae Goodman-Robinson, Executive Director of Human Resources at JPS, was the only witness.

In a previous interview with the Jackson Free Press, Ross indicated that Robinson was one of the first people who knew that Ellis had complained that Dr. Watkins had made sexual advances toward him.

Under Moeller's direct questioning, Robinson testified to the content of policies and various documents, often reading verbatim from such riveting material as the JPS Ethics Policy, the Overtime and Compensatory Pay Policy, and the Certified Employee Recommendation Form. She explained how her office familiarizes employees with various policies, and identified Ellis' signature on a memorandum concerning overtime pay.

Moeller introduced Ellis' resume into evidence, stressing his undergraduate degree in accounting from Jackson State in 1989. He closely questioned Robinson about the resume, asking where Ellis had used his accounting skills in his career. Ellis had been a staff accountant with the Piney Woods Country Life School and an operational auditor with the Mississippi Department of Education.

Moeller also introduced an Aug. 3, 2006, letter from Ellis' personnel file, a letter that he repeatedly termed a "letter of reprimand," from Assistant Superintendent Randy Bernamonti, which was a follow-up to a telephone conversation where Bernamonti told Ellis he did not appropriately follow through on the termination of a part-time librarian. Robinson said that Ellis asked her whether the letter contained "anything that would cause termination." She told him no, she said, and advised him to "just take his spanking and go on." Under cross-examination, Robinson revealed that Ellis' actions were not a policy violation.

In further direct testimony, Robinson said that Ellis' demeanor changed the summer of 2006, and that he expressed fears of being fired as early as July—"at least twice," she said—but said that she could not identify any reason for his anxiety.

The JPS team's questioning of witnesses was consistently narrow in scope on both days, and did little to put Ellis' actions in context.

Ross began her cross-examination of Robinson by asking her if she had been involved in the decision to terminate Ellis, to which Robinson said she was not. About a minute and a half later, the hearing came to an abrupt halt when Ross insinuated that Robinson was aware in August of Ellis' complaint to Bernamonti, his direct supervisor, of Watkins' sexual advances. Moeller rushed to object, indicating that the question violated an apparent agreement not to speak about the sexual harassment complaint in the current hearing.

Over the next five hours of testimony on Monday, and again in her cross-examination of JPS witnesses on Tuesday, Ross methodically worked to dismantle many of the reasons Watkins gave for firing Ellis in his Dec. 18 letter. She made a case for the fact that Watkins and JPS may have singled out and targeted Ellis for termination, which, if true, may bolster Ellis' allegation of retribution.

Robinson could not identify any other employees who had been terminated due to a "failure to achieve significant progress" in school performance. Ross introduced evidence from the JPS Web site, showing that 12 schools in the district other than Chastain, failed to progress based on the federal "No Child Left Behind" Adequate Yearly Progress model. Robinson admitted that JPS had terminated no other principals or employees for these failures, although 10 of the schools have been in improvement programs for two to three years, while Chastain is currently in the first year of the program.

Robinson also admitted that JPS promoted her to her current post, with a corresponding raise, even though the JPS school she headed at the time as principal was an underperforming, Level 2 school. It seems that JPS does not consistently punish "failure to achieve significant progress."

Ross walked Robinson through two of Ellis' performance reviews, for the 2004 and 2005 school years, where Bernamonti rated Ellis on a scale of one to four, where one is unsatisfactory and four is commendable. Ellis' overall rating was a three—dubbed standard, or proficient—with a scattering of commendable ratings in several categories, including demonstrating "commitment as evidenced in actions, words and deeds." Ellis' personnel file contained no reprimands other than the Bernamonti letter of Aug. 3.

Ross' questioning also uncovered that JPS apparently has no policies covering documentation of oral reprimands, or any policy covering proper personnel documentation of any kind. Robinson said that a policy on audits was "being drafted," and that she had no knowledge of any audit policy prior to the current draft. Robinson also seemed to have no knowledge of the statutes governing dismissals, although understanding and complying with that law is a central responsibility for any human resources department.

After lunch on Monday, Ross asked Robinson about the school board meeting of Dec. 19, where the board went into executive session. According to those minutes, the board approved a tentative settlement with Ellis that night. Robinson testified that the board did not discuss Ellis' termination although Watkins dated his letter informing Ellis of his termination Dec. 18. Robinson also said that hiring and firing at the level of principal and supervisor occurred within that small coterie itself.

During cross-examination of Talbert and Bonds on Tuesday, neither could recall JPS firing any principals for audit findings, including the principals of Hardy Middle School, where $10,000 was found missing in an audit covering 2003 to 2006, and Rowan school, where the discrepancies were closer to $12,000, according to Talbert. Bonds testified that he was not in his position with JPS during those audits.

The JPS team's redirect did little to redeem their witnesses or strengthen their case against Ellis.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Ellis women had moved to the front row.

Previous Comments

ID

67440

Comment

Michael Ellis is a rare, honorable man for whom I have great respect. I have known his family for years. My niece taught at Chastain while he served as principal, and flourished under his leadership. Thank you for writing this article. Anne

Author

anne mayeaux

Date

2007-02-14T21:55:40-06:00

ID

67441

Comment

Anne, thanks for posting. Ronni will continue to cover this story, so keep an eye out.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-02-15T01:17:30-06:00