Talk about turning a molehill into a mountain.
Dallas School Superintendent Mike Miles and trustee Bernadette Nutall sure have done that.
Both should quickly apologize to Dallas Independent School District students, parents and their colleagues for letting their egos turn a brief yet hostile encounter last week into a prolonged public feud.
Short recap: Nutall showed up at a South Dallas school one morning last week before Miles was set to meet with his staff. She and Miles got into a heated exchange. Miles accused her of trespassing and demanded she leave.
When Nutall hung around, refusing to jump at his command, Miles showed her he meant business. He ordered campus police to haul her out of Dade Middle School.
Now we’ve got another scandal — complete with a video — on our hands.
The DISD board is wringing its hands over the matter. School lawyers are trying to figure out whether Nutall or Miles violated any policies or procedures.
And once again, some are calling for Miles’ head on a platter — just three months after the superintendent’s final-year contract was extended two more years.
“This is one of those situations where they’re both culpable to some degree,” said the Rev. Gerald Britt, vice president of public policy and workforce development at CitySquare, an anti-poverty organization. “Both of them need to get in a room and holler and scream and get it over with.”
Instead, both are digging in their heels. And, sadly, the DISD’s image is taking another hit.
“Here’s my take,” said former DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, now an education consultant in North Texas. “I never forced anyone to apologize. … But winning the war is more important than winning every battle. They need to reconcile, focus on educating the kids and move forward.”
An old saying comes to mind: Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Miles may be absolutely correct in his assessment that Nutall stepped over the line by showing up at Dade and then balking at his request for her to leave immediately.
But did he take it too far by having cops physically remove her?
Nutall, of course, thinks so — and she’s bothered that Miles is insisting that she apologize to him.
When I talked to her Tuesday, she still was viscerally upset with Miles for treating her that way.
“People have disagreements,” she said. “I’ve been married for 17 years, and I’ve been in contentious [political] races. I also have 30 schools in my district and I deal with angry parents. I listen and I understand their position. But I’ve never called the police on anyone.”
Miles didn’t respond to requests for an interview.
However, DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said that Miles clearly felt he was justified in calling in campus police.
“Obviously, it happened,” Dahlander said. “But I think there’s much more to it than you’ve seen on that little clip. The incident took place over 20 minutes. So the context is missing. And that context needs to be discussed by the board and superintendent.”
The challenge, Dahlander said, is “where to draw the line between governance and management. It’s up to the board to sort all of that out.”
That, apparently, is what everybody is scrambling to do now.
In the meantime, Miles and Nutall should move to defuse the situation rather than make it worse.
In an ideal world, one where adults lead by example, Miles would swallow his pride, pick up the phone, call Nutall and say he’s sorry for letting their run-in escalate to a boiling point.
And Nutall would do the same. She should call Miles and apologize for creating any confusion. Then we can focus on the real point of contention — the poor performance of the school, the ongoing staff upheaval and the superintendent’s transparency in dealing with it.
But given the sore history between Miles and Nutall, who has previously questioned his methods, don’t expect them to kiss and make up anytime soon.
And that’s too bad.
“At the end of the day,” said Britt, “you just can’t keep being that petty. At some point, you have to be bigger than the situation.”
James Ragland writes on race and culture, education, social services and public health. Follow him at facebook.com/jamesragland61.
