District, ex-teacher disagree over why she was investigated
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
A former Unionville-Chadds Ford School District teacher and the schools’ administration have strikingly different accounts of how she came to resign her part-time teaching position at Unionville High School, after a social media furor was touched off last week over what sparked her departure.
Winden Rowe, a 1997 graduate of Unionville High School, painted a disturbing picture of school and district administrators quizzing first students and then her about her “gay” friend and her mentions of him and their respective social lives during class time. Superintendent of Schools John Sanville and Board of Education president Victor Dupuis issued a statement Monday night, disputing that account, saying the issue had nothing to do with her friend or the sexual orientation of her friend “but rather the inappropriateness of discussing an adult recreational lifestyle with students during class time.”
After Rowe’s controversial account of an investigation into her in-classroom conduct began to make waves in the community last week via social media, district officials had no on the record comment until Monday night’s Board of Education meeting. Although public media had encouraged local residents to attend the meeting, possibly because of the massive weekend snowstorm, there were no public comments about the situation beyond those made by board members and administrators.
Rowe, in an interview last week, said while she could understand why there might be questions about her sharing in class and going off topic — Rowe taught Spanish part time — she said the investigative process, the questions and how it was conducted made it impossible for her to continue teaching in the district.
She said she had no idea that there had been a complaint — which according to the district came from a student, automatically starting an investigative process under district policy — until she was informed by one of her students. She said that students were being called down one by one to discuss the matter with administrators but that no one had spoken with her at that point.
“I felt like I was proven guilty before I even knew I was on trial,” Rowe said. “If that’s the methodology in place, it’s concerning to me.”
According to the district, administrators sought to focus Rowe on teaching the subject matter, planned to enter a letter into her record (both sides agree, she had a spotless record in five years of teaching at the school) and asked her to apologize to her students. They said Rowe chose to resign twice, which was not their intent.
Rowe’s said her account, which has since been removed from Facebook, was published to her private Facebook account, to be shared with a handful of friends, and only became more widely known when a friend of hers pushed it out to a wider audience on the social media platform. The account spread like wildfire through the community — as students began sharing the account in school by week’s end.
She made it clear that was never her intent, though.
“I’m not one of those people who is driven by anger or revenge,” she said. “I just wanted to answer public questions.”
By Tuesday — following the district statement — Rowe posted to Facebook suggesting everyone had said their piece and it was time to move on.
“When I read the statement released from the district last night, I knew it was time to let go,” her post said Tuesday. “Some of you may say that I am somehow incriminating myself as dishonest by doing and saying so. And I understand that thought process. I also know that regardless of what I say there will be both naysayers and supporters, and the possible dialogue is endless. However, that is beside the point of this post. I see a lot of unkindness being shared here, so I ask that we all please stop.”
The Times made a Right To Know Request regarding all materials related to Rowe’s resignation — which to date has not been fulfilled – in an attempt to clarify what appear to be varying accounts of how the issue was handled during the week of Dec. 18, 2015.
