ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604220023
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Michael McIntosh will not return as principal of Roanoke's alternative school for troubled youth, even though he was acquitted of a charge of striking a student there.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said Friday he has reassigned McIntosh as an administrator to work with the principals of two magnet schools, Lincoln Terrace Elementary and Addison Middle.
McIntosh was suspended from his job as principal of the Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy last month after being charged with assault and battery of a student. The charge was dismissed last week in Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
"Given all of the circumstances, I felt it was untenable for him to go back to the school," Harris said. "I looked at all the issues surrounding the incident. I felt that what we have to have is the most stable and uneventful learning environment there we can."
McIntosh will assist William Sinkler, Lincoln Terrace's principal, and Paul McKendrick, Addison's principal, on scheduling and other issues, Harris said.
He said McIntosh did not agree with the decision and wanted to return to the alternative school.
McIntosh could not be reached for comment, but the Virginia Education Association will likely go to court to try to help him get back his principal's job.
"I'd be real surprised if his case is not litigated," said Gary Waldo, executive director of the Roanoke Education Association, an affiliate of the VEA.
"He is being treated as though he is guilty, even after he was proven innocent," Waldo said. "We have a real problem with that."
Waldo said McIntosh's case is symptomatic of a broader pattern in which some city school administrators assume that whenever students and parents file complaints about discipline, teachers are presumed to be guilty.
"The message is being sent out that students are always right and teachers are always wrong," he said.
Waldo said he believes school officials might have wanted to move McIntosh out of the principal's post because there has been some conflict between him and central office administrators on budget and equipment issues.
He said school officials praised McIntosh when he was hired two years ago, and most staff members at the alternative school think he has done a good job.
Waldo said the principal and teachers at the alternative school must deal with more-severe discipline problems and pressures than those at regular schools. Some students at the school are disruptive, violent and have been in jails or detention homes, he said.
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