Tim Cadotte, the embattled principal of Minneapolis' Burroughs Community School, was suspended for 10 days without pay by the school board Tuesday night for "conduct unbecoming a principal, insubordination and inefficiency in the performance of duties as a principal."

Yet those charges have nothing to do with the flareup with school Board Member Chris Stewart in April at the school, Cadotte's attorney said earlier Tuesday. That argument occurred when Stewart, during an unannounced visit to the school, allegedly accused Cadotte and the school community of racism for opposing a plan to reorganize the district and shift students in response to shrinking budgets and enrollments. Stewart is black, and Cadotte is white.

Cadotte was put on paid leave after the incident and reinstated as principal in May.

District officials have declined to elaborate on the incident. Neither would they talk about Tuesday's board action, which did not cite Cadotte by name. Roger Aronson, the attorney who represents Cadotte for the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, confirmed that the principal being suspended was Cadotte.

Cadotte declined to comment.

Aronson said, though, that the suspension stems from "a lot of small stuff" relating more to dotting the I's and crossing the T's of district policy.

"There's some question about whether the district communication policy was adhered to, some bookkeeping issues about how many signatures have to be on checks," Aronson said. "We don't know about their thought processes and how they got to them ... I don't think there's any evidence of insubordination or conduct unbecoming ... We strenuously deny those claims and will litigate this with them."

In fact, Aronson said, Cadotte has been cleared by the district of engaging in any "inappropriate behavior, racial and otherwise" in the incident with Stewart.

Stewart and Minneapolis school board Chairman Tom Madden would not comment on the suspension.

Stewart said in a statement: "I did not call the Burroughs Community any name. However, I did question the appropriateness of a message from the Burroughs Site Council that openly states which kids of color they find 'preferable' for purposes of achieving diversity."

He also said that he has "challenged the troublesome messages authored by some parents of Burroughs students." He cited fliers "in a public school that use the invidious and divisive language of America's disgusting busing era."

Some of Cadotte's supporters think he is being railroaded by the district.

"None of the points included in the violations or transgressions is about the incident with Chris Stewart," said Kip Wennerlund, a parent and outgoing co-chairman of the Burroughs Site Council. "They used that to open an investigation that has ranged far and wide to many other issues ... . The notion that Mr. Cadotte is suspended for two weeks without pay is shocking and disheartening. ... It seems they are punishing him for a number of small or even made-up transgressions from the past."

Aronson said any suspension probably would not be served until the process has run its course.

"It's shocking to Tim," he said. "... We're going to hotly contest this. I'd be amazed, when all is said and done, whether there is a 10-day suspension out of this."

He added that, out of 1,700 school principals he represents statewide, "we don't have five 10-day suspensions in a year ... this is highly unusual."

Staff writer Mary Lynn Smith contributed to this report. Norman Draper • 612-673-4547