INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Usually 30 people in the audience at a school board meeting is a good-sized crowd for Indian River County. But the meeting Tuesday night, May 14, was the exception.
In fact, the meeting had to be moved from where it’s always held at the School Board offices to the County Commission Chambers to hold the crowd of about 300 people.
The reason for the numbers: Kelly Baysura, beloved principal of Liberty Elementary School, an International Baccalaureate magnet school, is being transferred to Treasure Coast Elementary after only two years on the job, and parents wanted an explanation.
Outside the commission chambers concerned parents, as well as students, waved signs that said: “Keep Baysura at Liberty! We love Baysura! We want answers!”
The commission chambers quickly filled, as hundreds of parents and children from Liberty took seats, leaving about 30 people standing.
They wore green and pink T-shirts in support of Baysura. The reason for the choice of colors, according to parent Karen Rutledge: “Green is for the envy that others feel because we have Ms. Baysura at Liberty. Pink is for the amazing spot of brightness — like a beautiful flower — that she brings to our children. ”
One after another, parents and students went to the public speaker’s podium to voice their disappointment over losing Baysura. They expressed anger that they haven’t been given an explanation that makes sense. They expressed concern that the new principal is not certified to oversee an International Baccalaureate program and they worried aloud that the certification process will cost taxpayers $1,600 in unnecessary money.
Schools certified to be international baccalaureate schools focus on a world view which includes the study of languages, social studies, geography, math and science.
“Basically what the school superintendent is telling us is that the reason to transfer Kelly Baysura is because the superintendent said so, which is not a good enough reason,” said parent Angela Radock.
Parents and students told the School Board that Baysura was “an exemplary role model” to the Liberty students, as well as being someone who “strives for the best for our children, her teachers and her staff.”
Time and again, parents asked the board for details to explain why Baysura was being transferred and asked that the decision be reconsidered.
Surgeon Nick Rutledge, who has children at Liberty, told School Board members that he always “takes input” from other doctors and staff before going into surgery, which, he said, made it difficult for him to understand why parent and student input seemed to have no effect on the school district’s ignoring them and only responding vaguely.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said parent Joseph Cherry.
Frequently, parents asked for Baysura to stay for the sake of their children’s “stability.”
They pointed out with a new principal, Liberty will have had three different principals in three years.
When parent Karen Rutledge mentioned her concern that Baysura’s replacement, Dodgertown principal Takeisha Harris was principal of a C-rated school, when Liberty was an A-rated school, School Board Chair Carol Johnson interrupted her in mid-sentence and told her she could not speak about Harris.
Why Johnson felt she could control what Rutledge said was unclear, but it so surprised Rutledge that she stammered and obeyed. After the meeting, however, she questioned Johnson’s right to censor her words.
“I didn’t think she could do that but I wasn’t sure,” said Rutledge.
When School Board members asked if they had a legal right to rescind the superintendent’s decision to transfer Baysura, School Board attorney Suzanne D’Agresta told them they had to have “good cause” to reject a personnel decision of the superintendent’s — meaning that if the decision was likely to be connected to an illegality, they could reject it.
After D’Agresta advised the board that they could not go against Superintendent Dr. Fran Adam’s decision, the five School Board members voted unanimously to support transferring Kelly Baysura to another school.
School Board member Jeff Pegler told the audience: “Anyone who thinks Dr. Adams is going to make a decision harmful to this school system needs to examine their logic.”
After the meeting, speaking for hundreds of Liberty parents and students, parent Stacey Ford said, “We have never received specific answers as to why this is happening, so we’re very disappointed. Still, we will welcome the new principal to our school.”
