ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
A court fight may take shape if Michael McIntosh is not reinstated as principal of Roanoke's alternative school for troubled youth after being acquitted on a charge of striking a student.
The Virginia Education Association will likely go to court to help McIntosh return to his post at the Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy, said Gary Waldo, executive director of the Roanoke Education Association, an affiliate of the VEA.
McIntosh has been told by Superintendent Wayne Harris that Harris is considering assigning him to another job, Waldo said Thursday.
McIntosh could not be reached for comment. Harris, who has not disclosed whether McIntosh will return to the principal's post, met with McIntosh this week and will meet with him again.
McIntosh was back on the payroll this week after an assault and battery charge against him was dismissed last Friday. But he has not returned to the alternative school.
Waldo said the teachers organization supports McIntosh because it believes the superintendent is required by state law to reinstate him once the charge was dismissed.
The VEA believes McIntosh's rights have been violated because he has been suspended twice for longer than five days without a hearing by the School Board, he said.
"We have a problem with the denial of his due-process rights. He was entitled to a hearing," Waldo said. "It's about 90 percent certain that we'll go to court over this issue and the possible failure to reinstate him."
Harris said he has complied with state law on school employees' rights. He said school officials have consulted with the system's attorney in handling the case.
Waldo said the superintendent has no justification for not returning McIntosh to his post. "We think he is a good man. He has been exonerated, but they seem to want to stigmatize him."
Waldo claimed Harris has been on a vendetta against McIntosh and this is the reason he has not been reinstated. Harris said he did not want to get into a debate with Waldo in the newspaper.
The REA is concerned about what Waldo described as the failure of some administrators and principals to support teachers on discipline, security and health issues that affect both teachers and students.
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