Trouble up Jacobs Gulch?

KELLOGG — A recent Facebook post made by a current Kellogg High School teacher has sparked an outrage among Kellogg School District patrons and raised several alarms from people all over the Silver Valley and beyond.

The post, written and posted by KHS teacher Peggy Kimberling last Wednesday, has been shared and commented on more than 300 times (each) and discusses her frustrations with the school’s current administration.

The post reads as follows:

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“I have decided that I can no longer be silent regarding my position at Kellogg High School. The past five years have been the worst five years of my teaching career. The administrator at the high school and I do not see eye to eye on what is the best way to teach Family & Consumer Sciences. I chose not to stay silent and therefore I was given a choice of resigning or being terminated. I chose resigning although it really doesn’t matter. I was tired of being referred to as the person in the room with grey hair. I did not buy into the District’s theory that Spence Roger’s — “Teaching for Excellence” is the only successful way to get through to students. If this was the case why are not more school districts throughout the United States using these teaching methods? Our school district has spent thousands of dollars sending teachers to Vail, Colorado for special training yet those that are being held accountable are not offered the same training.

I have already been replaced by someone else. The high school administrator hired the first person that applied. A person who knew about the position before the school district even officially opened the position.

I am not sure what the district protocol is for hiring new teachers but I don’t think it is being followed. I do know that if I was replacing someone who had taught for several years I would want to know why they are leaving.

We were told from day one by the administrator himself, that he was at Kellogg High School to clean house. He has certainly done that. Twenty two teachers have left in the past five years. Four more this year. Just because the school district says that they resigned — does not tell you if they were forced and/or threatened.

The students in the Kellogg School District are the ones that suffer from the high turnover and toxic environment at KHS. They shouldn’t have to go to school where the majority of the faculty does not support the beliefs of the principal. They should have a principal that relates to them and likes them and wants them to succeed.

Please get involved with what is happening in your child’s school. Voice your opinion. School board members are supposed to be elected to their positions. Let them know how you feel. The time is now with a new Superintendent to start making changes. If changes do not happen you will continue to see more parents taking their children out of Kellogg Schools.

I will be fine because I am the lucky one. I will no longer be working in this negative environment. I will miss all of my students and colleagues but I will adjust. Unfortunately, I know that my husband will probably take heat over this social media post. He knows that I need to stand up for what I believe is right and this is one avenue of getting my message out to the community.”

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This is not the first time that the administration at KHS has been spoken out against this year. The Shoshone News-Press published a story on March 31 where several parents read prepared statements that echoed many of the same sentiments that Kimberling touches upon in her post (search “Parents speak out against KSD, administration responds” at shoshonenewspress.com).

Issues like staff turnover, toxic environment, and bullying are just a few of the similarities between the previous statements and Kimberling’s recent one.

Reactions to Kimberling’s post have spanned from emotional farewells to anger and frustration, but this has left more questions than answers as school personnel issues are generally kept very private.

The Kellogg School District issued a brief, but pointed, statement not long after the post went live.

“Peggy Kimberling has resigned from the Kellogg School District. Not everything on social media can be considered true.”

While the district’s initial short statement did not provide much insight into what they are doing as far as investigating, a letter submitted to the editor of the News-Press on Friday signed by two thirds of the staff at Kellogg High School did (This letter is published in the Wednesday, May 23, print edition of the SNP and online at shoshonenewspress.com). The letter presented a united front of teachers and staff backing their school and their administration.

Almost in direct response to Kimberling’s post, it begins by saying:

“Many teachers and support staff feel it is important to voice what we believe to be true about Kellogg High School. Contrary to recent online conversation, many educators here are incredibly invested in our teaching and feel very supported by our colleagues and administration. Many current Kellogg High School staff and educators thoroughly enjoy working at the school and in the last few years Kellogg High School has become an increasingly more positive place to work.”

The letter went on to highlight a brief list of positive accomplishments that have occurred at KHS over the last few years.

It also included a paragraph that supported some of the claims from Kimberling’s post, but instead of using the terms “clean house,” the staff used the term “step up our game.” Both comments lend themselves to believe that a higher standard was expected, but the method in which this was conducted is dramatically different from one publication to the other.

The staff letter also backs up the claims that there has been staff turnover at KHS — a talking point from parents, students and staff alike.

“Yes, it is true that in the last few years, the administration has asked the teachers to ‘step up our game.’ But because of this, we communicate with parents more, focus on building relationships with kids to support them AND we have improved our staff morale through working closely with each other. Our principal highly encourages us to do all of this. The staff that have stayed the course work hard to improve things for our kids; teaching is not an easy job at all, and it breaks our hearts to hear people say that all of the good teachers have left. That’s not true. Yes, good teachers left, but many still remain.”

Curt-Randall Bayer, the principal and primary administrator at Kellogg High School, declined to comment on the matter.

Members of the Kellogg School Board of Trustees have also not responded to requests for comment at this time.

The Shoshone News-Press will continue to monitor the situation and update the story as it develops.