Former Principal Jeff Dodson said he never raised his voice, lost his temper or threatened Karen Ray, the former journalism teacher who filed an ageism and gender discrimination lawsuit against Jefferson City Public Schools.
Ray said in her testimony that on numerous occasions Dodson yelled at her, said he was taking the newspaper class away from her and threatened to give her a bad recommendation at her new job. Ray left Jefferson City High School (JCHS) in 2013 for a teaching position at Nixa Public Schools in southwest Missouri.
At no point, Dodson testified, did Ray express to him she felt she was being bullied, discriminated against because of her age or gender, nor did she feel the environment was hostile.
All of his meetings with Ray were centered around expanding the journalism program and including a broadcasting section, he said.
His intentions - which former Superintendent Brian Mitchell was in support of - were to make Ray the head of the journalism department. He planned to hire more staff, and English teacher Brian Hodge would assist her, not replace her, he said.
Dodson met with Ray several times over the course of the 2013 school year, along with assistant principals David Wilson and Jeff West - which he said was common practice to have multiple administrators present during meetings with all faculty.
Ray previously said in her testimony the three-on-one or two-on-one meetings with her and the male administrators made her feel uncomfortable. She also said during these meetings Dodson would yell at her, and she would sometimes go back to her office in tears.
She did say Dodson intended to make her "senior editor," but she had no knowledge of that position existing and was told she would not be teaching the newspaper class anymore - The Red & Black newspaper would be taught by Brian Hodge, and she would teach yearbook.
Dodson said he was surprised when he found out Ray might be seeking other employment. It made him "concerned" because "no one was as good as Karen to lead the program."
He received an email from Springfield Public Schools requesting a questionnaire recommendation from him, he said.
She told him the request was when she applied for many teaching positions in 2009, before she accepted a position at the high school.
Ray told the jury she was worried she wouldn't be rehired by the district after the 2013 school year and began seeking employment at schools in Springfield and Nixa. She was offered a new contract in March, which she signed and then quickly voided after she was offered a position at Nixa for approximately $12,000 less than what she made at JCHS.
In her new contract, Ray saw no evidence of the "senior editor" promotion she was promised by Dodson.
Mitchell was not asked why the promotion wasn't reflected in her new contract, but he said he had approved the new position when it was brought to him by Dodson in late January or early February.
He could not issue a written offer before the spring, as all promotions or new positions are discussed with the school board in the spring.
It's standard practice for the superintendent and school board to approve new positions within the school district. Principals could not implement new positions on their own. They could, however, hire faculty without Mitchell's or the board's approval.
Mitchell said when he arrived in 2009, he took measures to overhaul the high school in an effort to increase the graduation rate, which at that time was in the upper 70th percentile.
"One hundred students per year were dropping out," Mitchell said. "Building principals needed to be active in monitoring classrooms."
The superintendent before him, Bert Kimble, contended that was true. During his tenure as superintendent, Kimble helped create the Jefferson City Academic Center to address students who were "failing" and the Southwest Early Childhood Center, a low-income and special education pre-school program.
High school principals were instructed to spend more time in the classroom. Some former teachers testified the frequency of the class visits was unusually high, but they did not mind.
During their testimonies, Kimble and Mitchell said they never heard any talk of the "getting rid of" older teachers claims brought to light by Ray and former teacher Laura Cooper.
In May 2009, former teacher Lonnie Schneider brought notebooks filled with complaints of discipline issues not being reinforced and "bullying" by administrators to Kimble and the school board members.
Kimble said they studied the binders and talked to administrators to see if they were "legitimate" complaints. Kimble retired that school year before any further action was taken.
It was his understanding the binders were followed up on.
Mitchell took over for Kimble in July 2009 and said he was aware of complaints by faculty upon his arrival. Mitchell said he may have been present during the May board meeting when the binders were delivered, but he couldn't definitively remember.
He said he never heard Dodson or Wilson make discriminatory comments regarding teachers' ages or genders. It would have been concerning to him if he had.
Ray said Dodson told her "there needs to be a man in the journalism department." Mitchell said he would have found that troubling, too.
He heard about the hallway incident between Ray, Wilson and West on May 1, 2013, where Ray said Wilson yelled at her and stopped her from re-entering her classroom. The encounter made her cry, and she said previously she still has nightmares about it.
Later that night, Ray called Dodson and told him to "call off his thugs."
Ray's attorney, Dennis Egan, questioned Mitchell that if Dodson heard her say, "call off your thugs," wouldn't that be grounds enough for Dodson to look into the incident? And, perhaps he might have looked at the video surveillance from the hallway to see what actually occurred. Wouldn't Dodson do that if he was a "caring principal?"
Mitchell agreed the situation should have been looked into.
Previous coverage:
Ray takes the stand against JCPS, May 13, 2016
JCHS teachers felt 'bullied' by administration, May 12, 2016
JCHS administration called 'aggressive', May 11, 2016
JCPS discrimination trial gets underway, May 10, 2016