UPDATE: Principal cites 'irregularities'
A charter school principal relieved of his duties claims that there may be “irregularities and issues involving certain members” of the school board that suspended him.
In another development, parents in support of Millennium Charter High School Principal Peter Gray plan to address the Monterey County Board of Education on Wednesday about Gray's abrupt removal from the job. The county board oversees the school's charter.
Also, an interim school administrator for Millennium High has been appointed. Faris Sabbah, an assistant superintendent with the Monterey County Office of Education, will serve as head of the school for now, according to Spencer Critchley, a Millennium trustee.
On Friday, before a packed room of parents and students, the Millennium Charter High School board voted 7 to 1 to place Gray on paid administrative leave. The disciplinary action was made over the objections of many parents and students demanding to know the reasons for Gray’s suspension. They got no explanation from school board members. Personnel issues are not open to the public.
The closest thing they got to any insights into Gray's suspension came from Gray himself. On Sunday, he sent an email to parents stating he was grateful for the outpouring of support from parents, students and staff in the effort to keep his job. “I myself am left with many questions … from this unfortunate event," he wrote.
Gray stated that he “discovered some irregularities and issues involving certain members of the board of governors. While I am not able to share any details, I can say that the current impasse between the board and myself is about my discovery of those issues and how they should be addressed.”
Gray’s email continues: “My intention is to bring the irregularities … to light to protect the community of learning you and I have worked so hard to build and sustain.”
Gray said before being placed on leave Friday that a conflict between him and the board arose about six months ago and peaked in December. Gray has been principal at Millennium – the only charter high school in the county – since it opened in August 2013. The school is focused on digital media arts, theater and technology with hands-on training in state-of-the-art video, radio and television broadcasting. Its main campus is The Media Center for Art, Education, and Technology, a department of The Monterey County Office of Education.
Earlier on Friday, between 70 to 80 students walked out of school in protest of the imminent loss of their principal. They picketed the entire school day in front of the UPDATE: Principal cites 'irregularities':
