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Tuesday, June 17, 2008
News Madison High Counselor Plans To Sue
Posted by on Tue, Jun 17 at 2:11 PM
David Colton, a counselor at Madison High School, has filed a tort claim against Portland Public schools for defamation and invasion of privacy, after school administrator David Hamilton allegedly brought students together who had been protesting Colton’s forced transfer to another school, and said this:
“There are two ways to get rid of a teacher. You can fire someone outright if they do something heinous or a teacher can be involuntarily transfered. I can’t tell you what Mr.Colton has done, but you need to know that there are things you don’t know about Mr.Colton’s actions. There are things that only the four administrators know.”Ah. Trouble is, it’s kind of illegal to discuss an employee’s private employment details with the public. And it’s pretty foolish to allegedly do so with a bunch of high school kids who loved the guy. Colton’s attorney, Michael Schumann writes:
Mr. Hamilton made these remarks to discredit Mr. Colton because of his advocacy and practice of helping students take classes across the small school’s boundaries, against the wishes of the Madison administration. Mr. Hamilton’s remarks implied that Mr. Colton had committed some heinous act or some serious breach of his professional responsibilities. These remarks were untrue, defamatory, highly offensive, not of a legitimate concern to the public, and a breach of Mr. Colton’s rights to confidentiality of his personnel information.That’s in Schumann’s tort claim, saying Colton plans to file for damages. Colton, it’s understood, was a fierce student advocate who had fought against changes being made at Madison over recent years, including the impact of an initiative sponsored by the Gates Foundation to split the school up into separate small schools. You can download the tort claim letter here.
“I feel enormously supported by the students, teachers and the parent community of Madison high,” says Colton. “I am enormouly gratified by their kindness towards me. I am disgusted by the administration in this building and the arrogance and incompetence that they have demonstrated in my case.”
“I was a terrific advocate for small schools but not for the autonomy this adminstrative team is creating,” Colton continues. “Students all over the campus in the three small schools are not getting their academic needs met and especially students in the English Lanuage Learner program.”
Comments
Yeah, and when during all of this did Hamilton unload 20 rounds of ammunition into Colton's head? We need details!
You score points for being both mean AND funny, Jon, simultaneously. Also I'm sure there was a shooting involved, somewhere.
High school students Protesting in SUPPORT of a principal? what the fuck is with kids these days. Why can't they glue his office supplies to his desk, fake a call and have his car towed or something.
if these students really like him they'd better transfer him and get the principal from Back To The Future...
I worry sometimes that our young people today aren't learning to fuck with authority figures anymore.
So is there more to the story or just this tidbit? I didn't go to high school here but nothing would do me better than post 10 year high school reunion summer than figuring out a way to screw with PPS for a good cause. Don't drop this at this Matt. I've been very impressed with the Mercury's coverage of local stuff as of late.
Garret, there's much more to this story, and much more drama to come... stay tuned.
What did PPS Superintendent Carole Smith's Number One consultant, Bill DeJong, say about Hammy and his friends?
"They would have a hard time fighting their way out of a wet paper bag."
Written, and recorded forever, in PPS e-mail.
So, Hammy, what's your defense? Real men have one.
Student from Madison here. i was at the protest and at the meeting where these things were said.
1) to PR walters, Colton is out counselor not our principal, we all respect him and he's helped us work around the restriction that our principal and administrators put on us. hehe
2) The way the remark Hamilton said was staged made it sound as if there was something that Mr.Colton had done that was in some way bad or inappropriate, but he just couldn't tell us exactly what it was.
I'm really happy that the teachers and Mr.Colton are fighting back now, it took a bit too much time, but I'm very proud.
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From here, it kind of looks like Mr. Hamilton didn't tell the kids anything...
Is there more to it? Seems like a stretch to call the remarks - "I can’t tell you what Mr. Colton has done" - untrue, defamatory, highly offensive, breach of confidentiality, etc. Hopefully the kids who banded together had the brains to maybe ask Mr. Colton if there's truth to the idea that there's more to the story, as Mr. Hamilton implied.