District superintendent, high school principal placed on leave in Richmond, Missouri
The superintendent of a school district in Richmond, Missouri, and a high school principal have been placed on leave, according to a district official.
Mike Aytes, superintendent of Richmond R-XVI School District, and Principal John Parker were placed on leave, Assistant Superintendent Brock Dover said in an email to The Star.
Dover said he was not at liberty to discuss employees further.
It remained unclear why Aytes and Parker were placed on leave or when the decision was made. The school district does not appear to have released any public statements about the matter.
However, the school district, located about 45 miles northeast of Kansas City, has experienced several controversies in the past few years. Two years ago, teachers filed a grievance against Aytes and Parker. Last year the local newspaper, the Richmond News, reported three students accused Parker of making them bend over to check the lengths of their shorts. In October, a middle school teacher was charged with having sexual contact with high school students.
Aytes and Parker did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Thursday. Parker could not be reached at his home. A woman who answered the door at Aytes’s house said Aytes was told not to comment.
News that the two men were placed on leave was first reported in the Richmond News.
Past problems
The school district has had several problems reported within the past few years.
In November 2017, a grievance was filed against Aytes and Parker. Two female high school teachers said Parker, backed by other administrators, created an “atmosphere of intimidation, fear and unchecked authority,” according to the the Richmond News. The hostile environment made teachers leave the district, the newspaper reported.
One of the teachers claimed the building felt like “static.” A representative with the Missouri National Education Association told the paper it was appropriate for a grievance to be filed.
“Everyone’s on pins and needles,” one business teacher said, according to the newspaper. “You can feel the tension.”
Some former teachers spoke of a punitive culture at the high school, the newspaper reported. Students told the paper it was common for Parker to undermine teachers he didn’t like, for example.
“So many weird things happen there,” a 17-year-old student told the Richmond News, “and a lot of students wish the administration would get rid of John Parker.”
School district officials described the stories as “attacking” the high school. In a statement, the school board said “rumor, innuendo, and half-truths” had been presented as facts. Aytes wrote an editorial saying he saw a “learning environment that is good for students and faculty.”
In March of last year, the Richmond News reported three seniors accused Parker of making female students bend over in 2016 to check the lengths of their shorts as a way of enforcing the dress code. One girl said she had “never felt so violated in my life.” Aytes contended the reports were an attempt at “character assassination” of Parker, the paper wrote.
The school has had other alleged problems.
A 15-year-old high school student in March 2018 told FOX 4 he was afraid to go back to class after he said a teacher pushed him. He told the television station: “I just worry about my safety.”
In August 2018, the district said it was investigating how an employee handled breaking up a fight between two students at the high school, according to KMBC. Parts of the fight and the response to it were captured in a blurry video posted on social media. The teenager’s father told KMBC he believed the employee used “excessive force.”
“I believe it’s unacceptable,” the father told the station. “I’ve always heard good things about the academics at this school, which I’ve always been pretty proud of those. But honestly, it kind of makes me want to move.”
More recently, in October, a middle school teacher was charged with having sexual contact with two high school students, according to Ray County court documents. The alleged encounters did not occur on school grounds.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 5:18 PM.
