Hermantown School District administrator Ellen Wiss has been suspended from her school duties for the second time in three years.
Wiss, the district's principal on special assignment, was placed on paid administrative leave June 11 for unspecified reasons, School Board Chairman Todd Aanonsen said. Wiss said she has worked for the district for 15 years.
Wiss had been disciplined on several occasions in 2001 by then-superintendent Fred Majeski for violating directions, and in 2002 was reassigned from middle school principal to principal on special assignment, where she coordinates district curriculum and annual testing. In 2004, she was suspended for 30 days without pay for improperly distributing private student data. She filed grievances against the district in both cases.
"It's not what it looks like to people," Wiss said of the current suspension. "But there's not a lot the district can say, and not a lot I can say."
The current incident "is not specifically related" to the past incidents, she said.
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Wiss said she and the School Board are trying to arrange an arbitrated hearing to settle the matter.
"I'm using all my legal options at this point," Wiss said.
When asked how long it might take to resolve the issue, Wiss said it might stretch into the next school year.
In 2004, the board voted 5-1 to suspend Wiss for 30 working days without pay for improperly distributing private student data. Wiss had been directed to black out information about certain students and their disabilities from a report that was circulated among some people in the district. Wiss attempted to black out the information, school district attorney Kevin Rupp told the board, but some of the information still was discernible.
In 2004, Aanonsen voted against the discipline because he thought Wiss should be fired.
Aanonsen and other School Board members declined to talk about Wiss' current suspension, except to say the district is looking at the work Wiss would be doing this time of year.
"It will get done; that's part of what we are determining now," Aanonsen said.
JANNA GOERDT covers the communities surrounding Duluth. She can be reached weekdays at (218) 279-5527 or by e-mail at jgoerdt@duluth news.com.
