A recent report that cleared former North High School Principal Kathryn Rodocker of creating a toxic work environment and led Athletic Director Carrie Stewart to be placed on leave painted a picture of Stewart as someone who ignored administrative directives and was alternately feared and revered by North leaders, teachers and students.
Stewart, who has worked at North for 25 years and told Signal Akron she plans to spend the rest of her career at the school, was placed on paid administrative leave May 2 while she is being investigated for wrongdoing.
The April 17 report into accusations against Rodocker, released late last month, enumerates a bevy of avenues for the investigation into Stewart. They include Stewart’s alleged propensity to encourage students to skip class by hiding in her office, video cameras she is said to have had in that office and her purported refusal to move offices when Rodocker told her to do so.
Stewart was also said to have thrown a surprise party in the school gym without a permit, to have violated fundraising policies in the district and to have consistently parked her car in a painted, lined area instead of in staff parking spaces, even when offered a designated spot.
“I run this bitch,” Stewart said to a leader of one of North High School’s academies and referring to the high school, according to the report.
Stewart, who previously told Signal Akron she was “a little unnerved” to see the accusations against her in the report after so much time with “never a single complaint,” did not return phone calls Thursday or Friday seeking comment on her leave. When reached earlier this month, she said the fact that she had a camera in her room was “not a secret” but that “there were never any cameras to tape students.”
“That was never a thing,” she said.
Akron Public Schools officials confirmed previously that they were looking into allegations against Stewart and others that were raised in the report. Yamini Adkins, the executive director for human capital for APS, said Friday those allegations “definitely” justify a new investigation.
“It’s very important to us that people will be held accountable,” she said. “We’re not going to allow serious misconduct issues to be ignored.”
Don Malarcik, an attorney representing the Akron Education Association and Stewart, said he thinks the district’s action “to take this highly qualified, respected teacher out of the classroom is outrageous.”
“We believe this is clearly retaliation for speaking out against the unlawful acts of Principal Rodocker,” Malarcik said. “The administration is now punishing the victims of Principal Rodocker’s unlawful conduct.”
When told Rodocker had been cleared in the earlier report, Malarcik called it a “whitewashed” and “sham” investigation.
An investigation into the ‘entire matter’
The last investigation, into Rodocker, took more than eight months and kept her from working for all but the last several weeks of the school year. Michael Defibaugh, the director of labor relations for APS, said he hopes to complete this investigation in 30 days.
“I’d like to be prompt and move quickly and judiciously,” he said in an interview Friday, adding that he thinks speed is foundational to a successful disciplinary program.
Defibaugh, who will conduct the investigation himself unless he sees a need to bring in outside help, said Stewart was placed on leave as a way to ensure she didn’t disturb any evidence. Adkins said the decision was made to put Stewart on leave so she didn’t “compromise the investigation.”
She was escorted from North High School the same week that the report into Rodocker was made public.
Defibaugh said he expects to begin interviews this week and has made no predetermined conclusions.
“You keep turning over a stone until you have what you believe you need,” he said.
While Stewart is the only person who was placed on leave, she will not be the only person investigated as a result of the report. The original investigation, conducted by Katy Osborn at INCompliance Consulting, recommended that “any ongoing employment issues” be addressed as appropriate, including but not limited to the ones in the report.
Some teachers at North, one witness said in the report, “tend to do whatever they want.”
Another witness referred to a group of “power teachers” who “think they are ‘above administration’ and ‘they can do what they like with impunity.’” That witness called the group of teachers “defensive and aggressive toward anyone who would question them,” according to the report.
In an attempt to show how indispensable they were, one witness said a teacher had remarked, “I could be found naked with a dead student next to me and not lose my job.”
Defibaugh and Adkins confirmed statements like that one would also be subject to district scrutiny.
“There’s an investigation on the entire matter,” Defibaugh said. “Our directive is that we need to follow up any employment matters raised in this report and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Students hid in athletic director’s office
Stewart’s alleged misconduct includes a number of issues related to her office. One witness, a school resource officer, said the athletics office presented a “major, major problem” for North High School and had for the 12 years he had been there. He said there are between five and 10 students “hiding” in the office on most occasions; when he checks the room, nine times out of 10 there are students there skipping class.
The school resource officer also said those students often try to hide in the closet when they hear him coming. He said he had walked in to see students making out; on one occasion, another witness said, a student fell asleep in the athletic director’s office, missed the bus and scared a custodian when they emerged after 8 p.m.
Another witness said students view Stewart as “cool” because she lets them skip class, according to the report. Rodocker, that witness said, tried to put a stop to it by telling Stewart to keep her office locked when she wasn’t there.
But even when the office was locked, an academy principal said, students were getting in.
“She said once she banged on the door and a whole group of kids were in there,” the academy principal recounted, according to the report. “She said she asked them how they got into the locked office, and they told her the AD had a piece of metal for the kids to jimmy the door. She said the AD let kids crawl through the windows to get in.”
Another witness described Stewart’s office as an “ongoing concern.” That witness said Stewart gave students her key so they could leave classes to enter her office for popcorn, candy or other snacks.
“She said she gets messages saying it ‘sounds like a party is going on in the AD’s office,’” the report said.
The former principal, Kim Sabetta, said in the report that when she led the school, she had experienced similar issues with Stewart having students in her office. Sabetta said she and Rodocker had discussed the challenges both had with Stewart and “they were the same challenges,” the report said.
Some colleagues defended Stewart, with one saying she is close to students and often buys them food. The kids call her “mom,” that person said.
“She is always ‘doing and doing and doing,’” that witness said.
‘The AD can see us on the cameras’
Stewart has admitted to having a camera in her room, but told Signal Akron there was only one and it was there for a limited time. In the report, a custodian said there were two or three.
Malarcik, the attorney, said the school district has not provided any evidence that cameras were present.
The camera was in her office to protect money and equipment, Stewart said in the report. Another school employee said no money should be kept in the athletic director’s office.
Stewart told the investigator the union approved of her having a camera, but others questioned the legality of having cameras in the school. Rodocker eventually told Stewart to take the cameras down, and removed them herself when Stewart didn’t do so.
A school resource officer said in the report that even after Rodocker took the cameras down, he thought they had been put back up.
That same school resource officer told Rodocker that recording children is illegal, the report said; school resource officers don’t use body-worn cameras in the building to avoid recording students. He also said he believes an incident where students were making out was being recorded.
Similarly, the academy principal said when she told a female student who was alone with three male students in Stewart’s office, “nuzzled up on a beanbag in the corner,” that it wasn’t safe, the girl said, “Don’t worry, the AD can see us on the cameras.”
The academy principal said in the report that when she asked about the existence of the camera, Stewart said, “I’ll show you but you can’t snitch.”
The academy principal said Stewart showed her footage from the cameras stored on her phone and that she could talk from her phone through the cameras, the report said. The academy principal said it “didn’t feel right.”
The academy principal told Rodocker.
Rodocker, in the report, said she understood that the feed from the cameras was going to Stewart’s phone, calling it a “huge concern.”
“She said there were ‘nonstop issues’ with the AD,” the report said. “She said the AD ‘has power.’”
‘Ridiculous, nonsensical infractions’
In another instance, witnesses said, Stewart refused to relocate her office, despite Rodocker’s order, so her existing office could be turned into a classroom. Rodocker offered to help Stewart box her things, one witness said, but Stewart was “nowhere to be found” all summer. Rodocker said in the report that Stewart eventually suggested the move be delayed until winter break.
Rodocker also expressed concerns about fundraisers Stewart led where students were handling hundreds of dollars, in violation of district policy. And she said that Stewart accused Rodocker of “picking on” her when she said that everyone must park in staff parking spaces, something Rodocker said Stewart refused to do.
Rodocker suggested giving Stewart a designated spot, she said, but Stewart said she didn’t want to be “a princess,” according to the report, and continued to park in an area with painted lines.
In another instance under a previous principal’s leadership, Stewart “threw a surprise 50th birthday party that was not school-related in the gym on a Saturday night,” the academy principal recalled, according to the report. “She said the AD had no permit and no insurance for the event.”
Malarcik said the issues in the report were “ticky-tack violations to the perceived code of conduct” and not indicative of a pattern of insubordination.
“These are ridiculous, nonsensical infractions that don’t detract from her commitment to scholars,” he said. “They’re cherry-picking to create a narrative that is not accurate.”
‘There will be no consequences’
Stewart’s supporters said in the report that the building would fall apart without her and that “she does ‘100 million things for the staff and students.’” They accused Rodocker of being threatened by her and targeting her.
“[T]he AD ‘knows how everything works,’” one witness said in the report, calling her “such a force in the building.” Another said Stewart had done far more for the building than any administrator, saying Rodocker’s attempt to move her office seemed like an effort toward “bringing down the Athletic Director a few notches.”
Yet another teacher called Stewart “very influential” among other building leaders.
“[Y]ou ‘don’t mess with her,’” that teacher said, saying Stewart was “even influential downtown,” referring to APS’ district headquarters.
Rodocker’s supporters said she wasn’t targeting Stewart and others, the report said, but addressing unprofessional behavior from a small group of teachers.
Osborn, the investigator, wrote in the report that the two factions provided identical facts to illustrate their “vastly different perspectives” on issues like the camera removal. Stewart reported it as an example of targeting and toxicity, she said, while Rodocker used it as an example of Stewart’s refusal to comply with directives.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, the Investigator finds that the Athletic Director either genuinely believes these decisions are not within the authority of administration, or genuinely believes that there will be no consequences for her refusal to comply,” Osborn wrote.
For her part, Rodocker told Osborn that she felt she had to make unpopular decisions in order to best lead the school. What she was accused of, Rodocker said, was instead what she was experiencing.
“She said when she saw those words — revenge and retaliation — she thought, that’s what happened to me,” the report said.