Susan Willis issues statement, dissenting opinion

Now former William Fleming principal Susan Willis issued the following statement, after the Roanoke City School Board voted to dismiss her from her position:

“Tonight’s decision of the Roanoke City School Board to uphold my dismissal could not possibly reflect a thorough review of the facts presented during nine-days of testimony which exonerated me.

Accordingly, and having no other choice, I am at this time authorizing the release of the four page dissenting summary of panel member Cheryl Twine, which is backed up by an 80 page full report, which clearly outlines the school board’s disregard of factual testimony supporting my innocence in being involved in any SOL irregularities at William Fleming high school .

I will consider the outcome of the school board’s decision and decide whether I will contest the outcome in future litigation to clear my name and professional reputation.”

Susan Willis

Willis also put out what she says is a dissenting opinion from that 3 person panel that presided over the grievance hearing.

The opinion is written by Cheryl Twine.

You can read the complete document by clicking here (PDF file, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

In the document, Twine names herself, Lorin Constanz, and Sandra Burks as the three member of the panel.

Twine writes that Constanzo stated he is a hearing officer for the state of Virginia, and certified to hear cases with the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).  Twine’s opinion also contains this quote attributed to Constanzo, “...This is the first time I heard about an investigation coming out about the Virginia Department of Education being involved in this, so I’m putting it on the table if there is any objection.”

In the document, Twine writes that Willis’ attorney James Thorsen, asked Constanzo to recuse himself because of that relationship with the VDOE.  However, Constanzo refused to recuse himself.

Also in the document, Twine wrote that Burks was one of nine people to receive salary increases by Roanoke City Superintendent Dr. Rita Bishop during the 2009 salary freeze.  Twine also claims Willis’ attorney asked, “Why can’t I show that they got increases in the face of a salary reduction in force across the board, that they would somehow more influenced to testify favorably or act favorably on her (Bishop)…“

In her conclusion, Twine writes that the VDOE was given flawed data by Roanoke City Schools, and that led to an “erroneous report” about Willis.  Twine claims that flawed data includes the status of the 31 students who the state investigation found had their schedules changed.

Twine also claims that Dr. Bishop and special education director Phyllis Cundiff had an “adversarial relationship” with Willis.  Twine writes that Cundiff stated that,“...She, Dr. Bishop, and Vella Wright met on Sunday, May 24, 2009 to exchange student names in hopes to “get” Susan Willis.“