TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Inappropriate behavior with women he supervises; intimidation and threats. Those are some of the allegations against the principal at Pueblo High School. Those claims played out at the TUSD board meeting Tuesday night.
School principals can really set the stage for learning in the schools they lead. They can have a big influence on teachers, students, staff and parents. Now the principal at Pueblo High is under fire, accused of setting bad examples and building a toxic atmosphere.
Frank Rosthenhausler has been Pueblo High’s principal for about eight years. Now staff members and parents are describing what they see as abusive behavior.
At TUSD’s board meeting teachers read statements from other people describing inappropriate behavior with female staffers and other bad experiences with the principal they call Mister R.
Nicole Jantzen is a counselor at a different school. She relayed claims of Rosthenhausler feeding drinks to a female coworker as a group of Pueblo High staffers were in a bar.
And she went on.
“These are some quotes by the Pueblo principal to staff and students. To staff, if you don't, if I don't like you, I find a way to get rid of you.”
TUSD ordered a campus culture survey that would measure Rosthenhausler’s effect on Pueblo High. The board reviewed the findings in closed session.
Teacher Victoria Bodanyi says she hopes the board will consider that survey and make a decision about the Principal before the run-up to the new school year.
“Because if our current Principal comes back in July-August, we really believe it's going to be an even worse working environment especially for those of us who have spoken out and kind of put our careers on the line here.”
TUSD Superintendent Doctor Gabriel Trujillo says rather than base a decision from public and sometimes anonymous comments, the District will need to investigate specific allegations from specific people.
“If these allegations are substantiated, there will be accountability, and that's very clearly written out in our governing board policy, but all of our employees deserve due process, and they deserve to be - they deserve a presumption of innocence until an investigation says otherwise.”
Doctor Trujillo says that will be a long careful process unlikely to finish before the new school year but in the meantime, he says any school leader facing this sort of criticism will have to reflect on how to build trust.
KGUN 9 has made multiple attempts to reach Principal Frank Rosthenhausler to hear his side of the allegations. As of Wednesday evening, we had not received a reply.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
