Dallas ISD trustees met Monday to discuss roles and duties after a fellow member was removed from Dade Middle School at the request of Superintendent Mike Miles.
The discussion was held in closed session for nearly three hours. A move by trustee Joyce Foreman to have it in open session was not successful.
No decisions were made after the meeting. Board President Miguel Solis said the board would continue deliberations about steps to resolve the issue, which has riled some people.
“It’s an issue that should not fester,” Solis said. “Where are the lines of governance and management, and how do we prevent something from happening like this again?”
Trustee Bernadette Nutall has said she was removed from the South Dallas school by DISD police on Oct. 13. She has said she was at the campus to see what was going on after Miles replaced the principal, two assistant principals and 10 teachers.
Miles has said he made the changes because “there was very little teaching going on” at Dade. He has said he observed poor instruction and leadership, low expectations for students, and an atmosphere of chaos and inattentiveness by some staff members.
Miles had planned a 6:30 a.m. staff meeting the day Nutall went to the school. He has said it was the first meeting for the new group and not the time for a trustee to be present.
Nutall has said she decided not to attend the staff meeting when she learned Miles was going to lead it. She said she was leaving Dade when she met Miles in the main entrance. She said he asked her to leave and accused her of trespassing. When she refused to leave the building, he got three officers to toss her out, she said.
Miles has said that he was within his authority to have Nutall removed.
The issue has some residents concerned. Miles was harshly criticized during a community meeting Thursday in South Dallas. Some who attended demanded that he apologize for having Nutall thrown out of the school. He did not.
Nutall has said she was humiliated by being removed from the school by police officers. “They proceeded to lift me up and take me out the door,” she said during Thursday’s community meeting, hosted by the Revitalize South Dallas Coalition.
Some community members also voiced concerns that the school had too many new teachers with no experience and too much administrative turnover. Dade has had four principals in two years — three of them placed there by Miles.
