Former Washington Community School District employee asking for reinstatement

WASHINGTON - The Washington Community School District school board heard from a former employee on Wednesday, Feb. 12, requesting his termination be reconsidered.

Michael Murphy had been a substitute teacher for the district for nine years. On May 7, 2019 he said he was teaching a physical education (PE) class at Lincoln Elementary School when two students got into a verbal altercation and he separated the pair.

Murphy alleges one student began to make comments that he would kick or punch him. Those comments could be ignored, he said but they soon escalated to, 'I will kill you.”

Disturbed by the comment, Murphy said he took the student by the elbow and escorted them to the office. Upon entering, the student stumbled over the schools service dog but regained their footing.

Murphy said after school he sat down with the principal, Teresa Beenblossom, to discuss the events. The pair watched the video footage and Murphy says he was told he did nothing wrong and not to worry.

The student was picked up by a parent before the principal was able to speak with the student, he said. Murphy said the student told the parent that Murphy was bullying the student the day before and at school the day of the incident.

Murphy said he was not in the school building the day before and upon reviewing footage of the incident the pair were determined to be no where near each other on May 7, except for during PE class.

On May 9, 2019, Murphy was served with a dismissal letter. He was not given notice of the allegations before receiving the letter, he said.

'In the dismissal letter it states the student made an inappropriate comment to me. I feel that when a student states they are going to kill you, it's a little more than an inappropriate comment and I take this seriously for the safety of other students and myself,” he told the board.

Murphy said an investigation was done by the Washington Police Department and was told his actions were in accordance with school policy.

'The chief even went to Superintendent Stone and shared his concerns about them not making the right decision (in) dismissing me,” he said.

Police chief at the time of the incident, Greg Goodman, could not be reached for comment.

Murphy asked for the board to enter into a closed session to reconsider his reinstatement but that was not done. School board President Eric Turner told The Union a closed session could not be granted because the purpose of that meeting is to evaluate an individual's competency within their job.

'This individual is not an employee of the school district and right now the school is not considering hiring him,” Turner said. 'It's not as if we don't want to (have a meeting), it's just the process is different.”

Murphy has since filed for unemployment from the district and was denied, according to the Iowa Workforce Development Unemployment Insurance Appeals Bureau. Murphy then appealed the decision and was granted unemployment.

Administrative Law Judge Beth A. Scheetz stated in the reasoning section of the report misconduct, the reason the district gave for firing Murphy, was defined as 'deliberate act or omission by a worker which constitutes a material breach of the duties and obligations arising out of such worker's contract of employment.”

Scheetz continued that the district provided a witness who watched the video and claimed Murphy's behavior was aggressive. However it did not provide a witness who saw the incident firsthand.

'Crisis procedures are learned and practiced for times when a person perceives a threat and must act. When that person has the lives of children to protect, it is not for others to second guess the reasonableness of the threat after the fear has passed. A person who has been threatened has a greater understanding of the exigency of the circumstances than the person who watched the situation on a screen,” the appeal states.

However, based on testimony from both parties she did not feel the school district met its burden of proof to prove Murphy was guilty of misconduct.

'Mere inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, failure in good performance as the result of inability or incapacity, inadvertencies or ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good faith errors in judgment or discretion are not to be deemed misconduct within the meaning of the statute,” the decision states.

On Sept. 26, 2019, the decision was reversed.

Murphy also alleges the student involved in the original incident began stalking him that summer while at school softball games. Washington Middle School Principal Kurt Mayer was informed, he said.

The student admitted to the harassment to Mayer, Murphy said, and was suspended from school events for three months.

'I feel an individual should be allowed to watch their child at a sporting event without being harassed,” he told the board, explaining he had to contact the police department and juvenile probation officer again over the incident. 'This is the individual you all are basing my dismissal on and I am asking the board to go into a closed session and have a vote for my reinstatement.”

At the meeting Wednesday night, Murphy expressed his frustrations to the board. However, because Murphy spoke during the public comment section of the meeting, the board could not respond.

'It's kind of frustrating knowing the board is set up so community members cannot have a conversation with the board,” he said. Murphy said he contacted four members of the board but only two responded. Both told him to come speak to the board. 'All I'm asking is for you to have a little compassion and understand where I stand. Don't accuse me of being guilty when I have been found by several agencies as being innocent.”