Harrell

A year after Seven Peaks School fired its principal, Megan Martin, and filed a lawsuit against her for allegedly downloading about 5,900 electronic student files illegally, the Bend K-8 private school has a new leadership team hoping to restore its image after a sharp enrollment drop.

However, two former administrators — Mimi Miller, who was admissions director, and Kent Vallier, who was the school’s vice principal before becoming interim principal after Martin’s firing — are frustrated about how they were fired and about Seven Peaks’ board of directors ending public meetings, and the school’s new leadership, including Head of School Paul Harrell, who joined Seven Peaks in April.

“The way I would describe him is, he’s a politician,” Miller said. “(He gives you) a smile, shakes your hand and pats you on the back, but he has his own agenda. It’s unfortunate for the school.”

Harrell, who said he’s spent 41 years working at private schools around the nation, seemed to be up for the challenge of rehabilitating Seven Peaks’ image.

“I’m not a naive person, having been in this (business) a long time,” said Harrell. “I can tell you that the faith in this school, through the parent body and through the children, has gone a long way to be restored already. We’re on the right path.”

In March, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel decided not to press charges against Martin. The lawsuit was dismissed around the same time.

The school announced in March that Vallier, now an assistant principal at Phoenix High School near Medford, would remain as principal after Harrell was hired as head of school, but Harrell canceled Vallier’s contract on June 29, two months after Harrell started.

Vallier declined to say why Harrell fired him, but said he was engaging legal counsel and was considering filing a breach of contract suit. Harrell said he did not wish to publicly discuss the dismissal of Vallier, as doing so would violate the former principal’s confidentiality.

Mimi Miller said Vallier’s firing was “without cause.” She wrote in an email to The Bulletin that she was fired on July 9 after an argument between her and Harrell regarding her contract for the 2018-19 school year, which she said didn’t have a job description attached. Harrell wanted Miller to possibly take on additional duties, but she wanted to see a new job description in writing, Miller said. Harrell set aside the discussion for nearly two weeks, until he told Miller he was “tired of arguing” and let her go, according to Miller.

“I said, ‘So, I’m being fired? I’ve never been fired before.’ … He said, ‘I’m not firing you. I’m recasting the position,’” Miller wrote in an email. “He refused to use the word.”

Harrell also declined to discuss Miller’s firing in detail, only saying that she declined the opportunity to apply for a different position.

Harrell compared Miller and Vallier’s departures to his departure in November from Vacaville Christian Schools, where he was the chief education officer. He said enrollment suffered after an administrator resigned after being accused of racially discriminating against three black faculty members. After this, Harrell said he and the board of directors mutually decided to part ways.

“We’ll never disparage what Megan did, or Mimi did or Kent did. But there comes a time where there needs to be a change,” he said. “There needed to be a change at Vacaville Christian, and I in no way would ever disparage that school, or the change they wanted to make.”

Fifth-grade teacher Chrissy Boyd, who has taught at Seven Peaks for nine years, said she wasn’t “super surprised” about Miller and Vallier’s firings, although she said the staff wasn’t explicitly told right away.

“When you have a small school, and you’re looking for a head of school, I just put two and two together,” she said. “Nobody officially said (anything,) but I figured it was probably coming because our enrollment has been coming down.”

Enrollment did sharply drop at Seven Peaks. In September 2017, the school served about 240 students. Its current enrollment is about 150 students, according to Director of Advancement Tracy Jenson.

Giselle Beucus, a co-chair of Seven Peaks’ parents’ group, expressed mixed feelings regarding the transition. On one hand, she said Miller and Vallier were “good people (and) good employees,” and parents, including her, were “shocked and upset” at their dismissals, which she called “poorly handled.”

However, she also said she was “100 percent confident” in the school’s new administration.

“I’ve never seen such unity in the past years,” Beucus said. “I attended a staff meeting a couple of weeks ago, and I could feel how they respect each other, how they work well together. As a parent, to see that, it’s very satisfying, considering the challenging year we had last year.”

The school’s abrupt decision to end its public board meetings, which are closed even to parents, also concerned Miller and Vallier. Miller said the board president, Dietrich von Behren — whom she called a “tyrant” — made the board meetings private and controls all communication with the public. Vallier agreed, although he placed the blame on Harrell.

“It’s kind of like a power-grab … When you control the information, you control other people’s thoughts. It’s not the kind of environment I think is healthy for education,” he said.

Harrell said the board meetings were already closed to the public before he arrived, but he was fine with the policy.

“Having been in independent schools for a long time, I would tell you that it’s outside of the norm to have what usually functions as a public-school school board meeting, because this is a board of trustees,” he said.

Boyd said she didn’t have an issue with the closed board meetings, saying that some boards are more involved than others.

“Honestly, I have children. I have a lot going on, so I don’t mind not having to go to board meetings,” she said. “I’m glad, I just do my thing and they do their thing.”

Beucus said she didn’t like the closed board meetings, but said the decision was up to the board.

Miller also alleged that the board of directors was out of compliance with Seven Peaks’ bylaws by having fewer than six members when it decided to hire Harrell. According to Seven Peaks’ website, the board currently has four regular members and two “Emeritus Members.”

In an email, von Behren did not respond directly to Miller’s concern.

“After internal discussions, the school believes it’s best to not address any questions at this time on matters of hearsay or disputed allegations for reasons aforementioned, namely respecting employment privacy concerns and following management best practices,” he wrote.

Regardless of Miller and Vallier’s “grave concerns” regarding Seven Peaks’ leadership, Harrell said he hopes to rebuild the community’s trust in Seven Peaks, starting by highlighting the school’s teaching staff.

“The faith that people have shouldn’t merely be in the leadership, but it should be in the team of educators that are really front-line with their children,” he said. “That group of intact team members is stellar. They’re 100 percent behind SPS and where we’re going.”

And despite some teachers and parents being angry about Miller and Vallier’s firings, Boyd said she’s “always been happy” at Seven Peaks.

“I tend to be somebody that just goes in my room and I have a nice group of kids, and I don’t really give a crap what the administration is doing.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7854;jhogan@bendbulletin.com