Jackson Elementary Principal Garry Dudley resigned Tuesday
following a unanimous vote to accept his decision by the Morgan
Hill Unified school board in closed session.
Jackson Elementary Principal Garry Dudley resigned Tuesday following a unanimous vote to accept his decision by the Morgan Hill Unified school board in closed session.
Details of Dudley’s resignation were not available Tuesday and will be reported as they become available. Several Jackson parents and teachers told the Times that Dudley was granted a leave of absence, inferring he was not fired but instead will retire at some point, though that was not confirmed Tuesday night.
The news came in front of standing-room only crowd, several of whom came to hear the decision that Jackson parents and teachers learned earlier Tuesday on campus, according to reports earlier that day.
Jackson parent Kathlyn Greubel spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting and spoke about concerns for Jackson, the only school this year in Morgan Hill Unified School District whose Academic Performance Index scores fell.
“This school district has failed the students at Jackson,” Greubel said. “There is a lack of leadership … I am holding the school board accountable for big changes at Jackson and going into year six (of Program Improvement) is not an acceptable option.”
Greubel’s prepared statement was met with applause.
The school is struggling to pull itself out of Program Improvement after it entered year five officially Monday following a 24-point drop in the annual Academic Performance Index that measures every school’s progress based on standardized test scores.
Superintendent Wes Smith went to a meeting room immediately following the school board meeting at 15600 Concord Circle and was unavailable for comment.
The announcement of Dudley’s resignation comes on the heels of a Sept. 3 story in the Times that reported 18 complaints were filed against Dudley in the past two years ranging from alleged sexual harassment to alleged verbal abuse of students. Eleven of those claims were found to have merit and to be true either in part or totally.
It’s unknown at this point who or what initiated Dudley’s resignation.
