OZARK, MO — An Ozark school teacher says the district has offered him a buyout for him to willingly resign.
Tom Swift is in his 31st year of teaching. He is in his 28th year at the Ozark R-VI School District.
“I love the kids; I love the parents; I love the job. There’s just one aspect of the job that I don’t love.”
The former “Teacher of the Year” nominee actually said that to administrators. And they knew he meant them.
Why are administrators pushing back against Swift?
He brought up safety concerns.
Concerns, he says, that were swept under the rug.
WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU?
What do the “Big Boys” in suits and ties do when they can’t fire a tenured teacher as quickly as they want to?
They give the teacher a fancy piece of paper, called a Professional Improvement Plan (PIP).
Swift got his infamous PIP on the LAST DAY of school last year. (Nothing says, “have a great summer” like a bad performance review, eh?)
“They listed 14 accusations against me; six of which were blatantly and provably false,” Swift told the CCT. “They are making things miserable for me so I will leave on my own. They want to shut me up with money so they can cover up their corruption.”
HOW TEACHERS GET ‘SENT TO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE’
Naughty kids get sent to the principal’s office.
Naughty teachers get moved around.
Swift was the shop teacher, but when he complained of dangerous levels of wood dust, the suit and tie squad shut down the program.
They sent him to STEAM (Science, Technology and Mathematics) but soon closed that program down. More safety concerns about mold in the building.
Next stop, a 6th grade math class. A class Swift didn’t want.
But, like a good teacher, he’s willing to do his best there. He loves the kids. He loves teaching.
He has until Friday, September 30, to sign a separation agreement which means he would accept a payoff and go away and never say anything bad about the suits and ties.
But he has no intention of doing so.
“I’ll admit, it was pretty tempting to accept their offer and go away,” Swift, who is 54 and was planning to retire in 2019, told the CCT.
But that would jeopardize the safety of the students, he says.
Swift chose to go “Tom Petty” on administrators (I won’t back down) rather than take the money and run.
“If I lose my job for the safety of my kids, I can’t think of a better way to go out.”
Swift wasn’t on the “naughty teacher list” for most of his long career.
He told the CCT his problems began when Dr. Chris Bauman, now the district superintendent, was director of operations. Swift wrote a formal complaint of dangerous levels of wood dust in his industrial arts classroom.
Months dragged by.
No response.
Bauman finally did respond when he found out the complaint would go further.
In March of 2019, Bauman bombed into shop class during first period, and dragged Swift outside to point out a roof water leak situation that had zero to do with Swift. It was Bauman’s way of explaining the problem, Swift told the CCT.
Swift was uncomfortable leaving kids unattended around power equipment, so he quickly tried to re-enter the building.
But Bauman wasn’t finished with his explanation.
“He (Bauman) pointed to the roof as I was entering the building, and as I looked up to where he was pointing, I fell on a concrete ramp, breaking the bone below my elbow,” Swift said.
Staff checked it out and determined at the time it wasn’t broken, so Mr. Swift taught the rest of the day with an ice pack. By Monday, he had to go in for an X ray and yep. It was broken. It took a lot of rehab to get better.
He would have retired a few months later, to pursue a side career in deck construction, but that “bad break” held him back.
Part 2 coming soon…Stay tuned…
Thank you Thomas Swift for your bravery in sharing your important story. We are looking forward to publishing more details.
Thank you, Christian County Trumpet, for sharing these teachers’ stories! Those in charge of the administrators need to do something about the abuse of authority and retaliation being practiced in Ozark schools!! Why won’t the school board listen?!?