Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502220070
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Rhonda Welsh, a drama teacher at Pulaski County High School, appealed a decision by the school administration to give her a 10-day suspension without pay and a yearlong probation, saying that her actions on a December field trip warrant only a reprimand.
The School Board must give its ruling within 30 days but was not prepared to make a decision Monday night. In the meantime, Welsh will continue teaching.
During testimony at a seven-hour public hearing on her case before the School Board, Welsh said she "lost it" on the Sunday morning of the field trip after a breakfast manager at the hotel where the group was staying tried to ration doughnuts to the students at a continental breakfast. Welsh and the woman began yelling at each other and engaged in a tug-of-war over the box of doughnuts until a security guard was called to the scene.
A plethora of witnesses, including the breakfast manager from the Comfort Inn Hotel in Colonial Heights, spoke about the incident, one that Superintendent William Asbury described as "inexcusable."
While all agreed about the crux of the Dec. 11 incident - there was a disagreement over doughnuts - the testimony was as varied as the witnesses.
Breakfast manager Janet Williams said Welsh was screaming and threw doughnuts on the floor and in the trash. The security guard for the hotel, Stanley White, said the students surrounded Williams and he was concerned for her safety. Both workers said the students left the dining area a mess, with cups, napkins and doughnuts all over the tables and floor.
"They was grabbing doughnuts like they'd never had doughnuts before," Williams said. "I was just hollering for security, that's all I could do. I was scared."
However, parent chaperones and students at the field trip gave quite a different account.
Williams "told us if we took more than one doughnut [per student] that there would not be enough for everybody," said parent Vickie Kidd. "It was the poorest continental breakfast I've ever had."
Kidd said there was no trash on the tables, no trash on the floors and Welsh did not throw doughnuts. Two other parents and three students testified with similar descriptions of the incident.
"She was just trying to get the kids some food," said parent Susan McCoy. "Really, she did better than I would have done in that situation."
Regardless of the inadequacies of the continental breakfast, Asbury's attorney, Kathleen Mehfoud, said Welsh had no right to take it upon herself to change the situation, no right to lose her temper in front of the students.
"I think the evidence has sifted down to a few points," Mehfoud said. "Mrs. Welsh laid down very firm ground rules for her students - the students were supposed to be respectful, they were supposed to act in an orderly fashion and they were expected to act professional.
"The incident Mrs. Welsh engaged in on Sunday, Dec. 11 was not respectful, it was not orderly and it was not professional. Mrs. Welsh could not follow the very rules she laid down for her students."
Welsh's attorney, Joe Steffen, argued that because she has never been in trouble before, a formal reprimand would be the most appropriate punishment. Furthermore, he said, Welsh is being made an example of, with a punishment that does not fit the offense.
"This is a bit of a double standard," Steffen said, going on to explain that sports coaches who lose their temper with a referee are not given a two-week suspension and probation. "This is one solitary incidence of her losing her cool. If you punish her for that, you're setting a standard to punish every single teacher who loses their temper just one time."
Thomas McCarthy is the School Board's attorney. Asbury had to hire another attorney to represent his case, as did Welsh. Because she is a member of the Virginia Education Association, Welsh's representation was covered by that group. Asbury's attorney was paid for by the School Board, as provided by law.
As the hearing ended just minutes before midnight, students, teachers and parents hugged Welsh and gathered around her. The meeting had been so crowded with supporters it had to be moved from the School Board office to the administration building.
by CNB