Superintendent Mike Miles: Dallas ISD’s investigative unit is abusive, intimidating
Superintendent Mike Miles, left, and Don Smith, who oversees the Office of Professional Responsibility
A few months before Dallas ISD trustees considered moving the district’s investigative unit, Superintendent Mike Miles had his own plans for the powerful department.
Board members, after floating the idea for more than a year, spent Thursday night considering shifting the Office of Professional Responsibility from Miles’ control. Under the proposal, the Office of Professional Responsibility would report to the Internal Audit department, which answers to the board and not the administration.
Miles didn’t say a word during the discussion Thursday night.
But documents included in the recent investigation of Miles reveals his thoughts on OPR. According to notes from when the district’s top investigator met with Miles, the superintendent called the group abusive and intimidating.
Don Smith, who heads OPR, said Miles told him that OPR “must be on the same page” and “need to follow my guidance.” Miles said that there has been an “overreach of OPR” and “not just because of this case,” according to Smith’s notes.
Smith’s notes recall conversations he had with the superintendent during the district’s initial investigation into Miles in June. The report was eventually handed off to attorney Paul Coggins to complete, after Miles tried to interfere with OPR’s investigation and didn’t fully cooperate. The Coggins report found that Miles violated board policy and tried to disparage trustees.
“The superintendent continued saying ‘we need OPR [and that] from the beginning I have said no big brother and divisive to the group.’” according to Smith’s notes in report by Coggins.
On June 26, Miles talked to him about the future of OPR. Miles told him that the district’s investigations