Complaints levied by a group of Tanner school employees against Tanner Principal Louis Gordon were investigated and addressed in a Jan. 25 report, documents show.

Earlier this year, a number of Tanner employees filed complaints with the Limestone County Education Association, claiming Gordon violated numerous school, district, state and federal regulations. The complaints prompted Limestone County school officials to put Gordon on paid administrative leave March 12 while Tommy Hunter, director of human resources and operations for Limestone County Schools, investigated the grievances.

The LCEA document containing 17 grievances against Gordon and the outcome of Hunter’s investigation, were given to The News Courier Thursday. In addition to claims that Gordon violated numerous regulations, the document contained allegations that Gordon misused funds and failed to provide a safe environment at the school. He was accused of being a bully, disrespectful and using verbal and physical threats to intimidate employees. His technology skills were called into question as was his ability to properly perform his administrative duties. Hunter assessed all 17 complaints. His conclusions were detailed in a Jan. 25 report.

The claim that Gordon violated federal regulations by directing how Title I money is to be spent without consulting federal guidelines or the school’s Title I committee recommendations, Hunter found that surveys sent Dec. 14 requesting feedback from staff as to how they would like to spend technology money went unanswered, so there was no data to collect. Hunter also determined that attempts by Assistant Principal Deborah Kenyon to schedule a meeting with faculty members selected to serve on the Technology Team were unsuccessful.

The accusation that Gordon violated state law because he did not inform certified staff that their Independent School Management funds were available Dec. 4, 2017, resulted from a countywide miscommunication. Gordon followed through by sending an email Jan. 4 to a county school bookkeeper with two attachments regarding distribution of ISM funds.

The complaint that Gordon misused school funds at the beginning of the school year by redirecting a portion of the band’s revenue to support other projects and activities at the school was resolved when Gordon had the band money replaced.

The accusation that Gordon threatened to use retaliation to keep employees in line and used his “body size and voice tone” to intimidate employees did not turn up “any physical evidence of such said allegation,” according to Hunter’s report. Hunter went on to say “if any police reports have been filed against Mr. Gordon, Limestone County Schools requests a copy of these reports to support your allegations.”

An incident in which Gordon referred to a female employee as “honey” was also said to be resolved.

As for claims that Gordon “doesn’t know how to utilize software approved by the local and state school board for day-to-day operations,” Hunter asked that Gordon be given “a learning curve” since he is new to the county school system.

Claims were made that Gordon asks employees to complete duties outside of their job description. For example, he was accused of asking the information technology facilitator to perform administrative duties. According to Hunter, the Limestone County school system has the right to ask any employee to perform additional job duties as long as they are not illegal or immoral in nature. Each job description has a responsibility clause that states “perform other duties assigned.”

Gordon was also accused of not providing support to his employees. However, Hunter’s investigation turned up information that Gordon “gives praise to his staff over the intercom.”

School safety was also called into question under Gordon’s leadership. According to the LCEA document, there were 23 fights at Tanner High School since the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. However, Hunter found that only seven fights had occurred.

Hunter answered many of the other complaints lodged against Gordon in the LCEA document by referring school employees to the 2017-2108 Faculty Handbook.

Those who filed the complaints also called for the board to take action against Gordon, recommending a range of disciplinary actions ranging from a written reprimand to termination.