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.
