Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles offers olive branch to trustees, vows to work on relationship with them
The night before Dallas ISD trustees discussed an investigation of Superintendent Mike Miles, he reached out to his bosses and promised to work on their fractured relationship.“I want you to know that I am prepared to reset my working relationship with the board and move forward to help our students get the best education possible,” Miles wrote in an email sent at 11:24 p.m. Friday. “Our students, staff, parents, and community need me to do my best to work as part of a team and to stay focused on our students’ future.”
The email arrived the night before Dallas ISD trustees spent five hours in a closed-door meeting Saturday discussing the investigation, which found that Miles violated district policy and worked to publicly disparage trustee. Both violations are cause for his termination, according to the investigative report by private attorney Paul Coggins.
Before the meeting Saturday, about 30 people protested outside the Dallas ISD administration building and urged trustees as they arrived to get rid of Miles. Coggins and top district investigator Don Smith led trustees on Saturday through the 49-page report — the first time trustees have discussed it since they received it on Sept. 6.
However, the board didn’t discuss what punishment, if any, Miles could face. Trustees have three options for how to handle the investigation. They could fire him, reprimand him or let him with stay without punishment. Trustees plan to schedule a meeting for Thursday to talk to Miles about the report.
Miles’ email represents an olive branch to trustees, who have become divided over their support of him. His support on the eight-member board is evenly split, with his relationship with the critics often