[Nfbwv-talk] Dr. Keller Article

Mon Apr 30 17:57:48 UTC 2018

Subject: Article from Charleston Gazette-Mail Education Section 2018 04

28

Date:

29 Apr 2018 21:47:04 -0500

Fired WV deaf, blind schools superintendent previously fired in Georgia

. By Ryan Quinn Staff writer                       Ryan Quinn   Education

Reporter               .

On the day the West Virginia Board of Education fired him as

superintendent of the state's Schools for the Deaf and the Blind in

November, said Martin Keller Jr., he and his lawyer read a letter to board

members.

"I understand that the Board is considering my termination due to their

belief that I was untruthful on my application for employment," the letter

said, according to Keller.

When he applied for the West Virginia job in 2015, Keller answered "no"

to the questions "Have you ever been dismissed or asked to resign from any

employment? and "Have you ever been disciplined, reprimanded, suspended, or

discharged from any employment because of allegations of misconduct?

Keller was, in fact, dismissed in 2010 from his assistant director for

instruction job at the Georgia School for the Deaf (GSD). He has alleged

that West Virginia education officials claimed he was untruthful on his

application as a pretext for firing him from the deaf and blind schools in

Romney, the county seat of Hampshire County.

"I realize maybe I should have put down yes," Keller said last week,

through an interpreter, regarding the first question on whether he'd ever

been dismissed or asked to resign. "I maybe needed to add an explanation

for the reason and that really didn't come to me.

That application question included this line: "If yes, enclose full

explanation. Defending answering 'no

But Keller stands by his "no" answer to the second question, on whether

he'd ever been "disciplined, reprimanded, suspended, or discharged from any

employment because of allegations of misconduct. As with his firing from

his West Virginia job, his firing from the Georgia position came without an

official reasoning -- he was an "at-will" employee in both states.

Documents obtained from the Georgia Department of Education through an

open records request include a letter Keller wrote asking to get his job

back, a letter his then-wife wrote asking for his reinstatement, a letter

saying he was put on paid administrative leave before his firing, a U.S.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint from him over the firing,

a memo dated about a month before his firing in which GSD's director lays

out his issues with Keller's performance, and messages and other documents

detailing a dispute among Keller, his then-wife and her sister, who all

worked together at GSD.

In one message from Keller to his then-wife, Donna McGee, three days

before the date of his firing letter, he wrote he would "fight hard" to get

her sister, Terry McElwee, out of GSD, and then wrote "I won't do it if u

are fair though.

In another message to McGee, he wrote "if u ever try dare to (sic)

embarrass me in any way" he would sue her and McElwee and get McElwee out

of GSD. McGee declined comment for this article.

Keller said in last week's interview that there were no misconduct

allegations against him, but then said "I feel like any allegations I had

were trumped up.

In a closed session during the Nov. 17, 2017, meeting at which the West

Virginia state school board  fired him without explanation  (Keller

declined his right to have his hearing in public that day), Keller said he

and his attorney presented a letter that said, according to a copy his

lawyer provided the Gazette-Mail, that the Georgia dismissal "was not the

result of punitive action, and references no misconduct.

"I have also included Georgia School for the Deaf on all applications in

my work history, as I have, to this point, had no reason to assume issue,"

Keller wrote. "... My supervisor had been made aware, despite my efforts,

that I was seeking employment elsewhere and was interested in accepting a

vacant position, which I did indeed move into.

Keller continued to write that "I saw this notice of separation of (sic)

their acknowledgment of this information and found, and still find, it to

have a different meaning than dismissal. The question, again asks of

dismissal or requested resignation. To me, and I believe many others, this

has a negative connotation which implies punitive action. I do not believe

the case to be the same with my departure from the Georgia School for the

Deaf.

Keller said Wednesday that he thought then-GSD Director Lee Shiver "knew

I was planning on moving, planning on leaving, so he started looking for

false allegations against me" and said Shiver still wanted the pleasure of

firing him. He said he wrote the letter requesting his job back for McGee's

sake.

Shiver said Tuesday he recommended Keller's firing, and the Georgia state

school board ultimately agreed to fire him.

"The issues that led to that decision were I would say myriad and it

wasn't just something that happened," said Shiver, now a candidate for the

Georgia House of Representatives. He declined to provide much further

detail, expressing concern about being sued, and didn't return requests for

follow-up interviews after that Tuesday interview.

Shiver himself was placed on administrative leave and fired from GSD

about one year after Keller's termination. Frick declined comment when

asked last week whether the department or the Georgia state school board

were willing to comment on why they were fired.

Regarding his firing from West Virginia, Keller said he wasn't provided

any other reason for his firing other than allegedly being untruthful on

his application, which he argued was a pretext for the move.

West Virginia Department of Education Communications Director Kristin

Anderson declined to say whether that was the reason, and declined to say

whether anyone from the department or West Virginia state board contacted

Shiver, or anyone else at GSD or at the Georgia department about Keller

before he was hired here. Shiver and a phone number for him or GSD were

listed on Keller's application.

Only two of the nine West Virginia state board members were on the board

when it hired Keller in August 2015. The state superintendent has also

changed.

An administrative law judge dismissed Keller's grievance against the West

Virginia state board in February of this year. His appeal of that dismissal

to Kanawha Circuit Court alleged current state Schools Superintendent Steve

Paine asked why he "left his previous job," and the appeal said Keller

"informed him that he was interested in moving his career forward and

taking a superintendent position," and Paine allegedly said "he did not

believe him.

Keller said last week he believes Paine was referring to a job at the

Indiana School for the Deaf, and then Paine and the state board switched

their application untruthfulness allegation to regard GSD. Court and

Georgia records

When interviewed last week, Keller said he's dropping his appeal, and

said he thought it had already been dropped beforehand. The petition for

appeal is dated March 12 and filed March 29; Keller said he got a job offer

last month and no longer wishes to get his job as superintendent of the

state's Schools for the Deaf and the Blind back.

But he said he's still considering a discrimination lawsuit against

Paine, and is waiting to hear back from the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission before possibly proceeding.

West Virginia officials have said  they believe Keller was the only deaf

superintendent in the Romney schools' nearly 150-year history.

He filed a complaint with the EEOC regarding his firing from Georgia, but

said he dropped it because the process got complicated and Shiver was

eventually fired anyway.

The documents from the Georgia Department of Education include a

handwritten letter from Keller to Shiver, saying "I am wondering if there

is any way that you will reconsider your decision and allow me to continue

working at GSD.

"If not, please let me know when I might pick up my personal belongings,"

Keller asked Shiver in the March 9, 2010 letter. "In addition, could you

please provide me with a written explanation of my appeal rights?

Keller's EEOC complaint regarding the Georgia firing said he believed he

was discriminated against due to his disability and said he was given no

reason for his discharge. He wrote in the complaint that he was notified of

his discharge on March 8, 2010, though his termination letter is dated

March 7, 2009 (the 2009 appears to be an error; Keller began working at GSD

in June 2009).

Shiver's termination letter to Keller indeed doesn't give a reason, other

than that GSD and Georgia Department of Education "officials have

determined that it is in the best interest of the GSD to separate you from

at-will employment. The letter said he'd be on paid administrative leave

until March 22, 2010, when he'd lose his job.

Initially, the Gazette-Mail requested from the Georgia Department of

Education "all documents that indicate the reasoning for Martin Keller Jr.

s termination," but Julie James, a paralegal there, said that request "is

somewhat subjective.

"I can provide his personnel file, GSD file, or just any written

reprimands and his termination letter," James wrote, and this reporter

agreed to change his request to just those documents.

Those documents include a Feb. 19, 2010 memo from Shiver to Keller,

telling Keller his "absences due to personal issues and subsequent requests

for flexible work time are excessive," "a few parapros (paraprofessionals)

have complained that they were required to cover absent teachers' classes

with no lesson plans," "you have not conducted any formal observations of

teachers since the first week in December" and "you have missed federal

program reporting deadlines.

"I do disagree, I do remember I did the formal observations," Keller said

last week when asked whether he disagreed with those allegations, and he

said "I never really used more than I needed for sick and personal leave.

Messages and firing

Keller's message telling Donna McGee, his now-ex-wife, that "I will fight

hard to get Terry out of GSD" is highlighted in yellow in the Georgia

records.

"Donna said she will help me," the message says, apparently referring to

a Donna other than his then-wife. "She will be my witness and I have

enough.

"I didn't have a problem with Terry's performance, I don't agree with

that, I think a lot of things are often said in anger in situations like

that," Donna Duff, the one apparently referred to in that message, said

this week when asked if she was willing to help Keller get Terry McElwee

out of GSD.

Duff did say Keller "was all about the students, he was all about

empowering the deaf, he was all about bringing GSD up to a level that it

needed to be brought up to.

The Georgia documents include what appear to be notes of a meeting with

Keller on March 4, 2010, the day after the messages. The notes say Keller

was presented with transcribed text messages "provided by Terry who was

concerned that he was threatening her job with Donna Duff's assistance.

McElwee didn't return requests for comment.

The notes said Keller "initially said he would not discuss the transcript

and would get a lawyer because this was about hearing people violating a

deaf person's rights. The notes then say he "confirmed he wrote texts, but

that he was bluffing.

Keller said last week he wasn't bluffing about wanting McElwee gone, and

said he doesn't know why the notes said he claimed he was bluffing.

On March 7, 2010, Keller sent a 9:11 a.m. email to Shiver, saying "I have

met with my lawyer and have decided that I will proceed with meeting with

you to discuss the allegations you raised" on March 4.

"I was very upset when I told Donna I wanted to get Terry fired," he

wrote. "In the past 2 months, Terry has actually sabotaged our marriage by

spreading lies and rumors about me and our marriage at GSD. She has made

our 12-year marriage a sham. She has caused irreparable damage and public

humiliation and I will see to it that she must be held fully accountable

for her irresponsible and malicious actions. Additionally, Terry has caused

extreme emotional distress in which I have taken sick and leave absences

frequently since Jan. 17 (as was duly noted in your letter you wrote to me

dated February 19, 2010).

Keller added that "her malicious actions are clearly grounds for

dismissal. His termination letter came the same day.

In an email to Shiver and his superiors dated March 11, 2010, McGee

lambasted Shiver and McElwee and asked Shiver to reinstate Keller.

"Terry McElwee requested that I forward the personal emails that took

place between me and Martin Keller the night before on Wednesday, March 3,"

McGee wrote. "Terry's purpose for obtaining the emails was deceptive in

nature.

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