GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) parent is speaking out after he says he was threatened by a school administrator over the phone.
“It's terrifying. We want to pull our kid from the district, we don't want to be a part of this anymore,” says parent Seth Moore.
Moore says a recent phone call with the district's head of security, Larry Johnson, turned into an investigation and Johnson being on paid leave.
“The district is asking us to reimagine GRPS, to build better, to be better. I don't see how we as a district can be better with Larry in his role, he is not the right person to see us into the next stage,” says Moore.
Moore says this all started when he called to complain about kids being left unattended by an adult at a transportation hub.
While speaking to Johnson over the phone, Moore says Johnson got heated and threatened him, which led to an investigation.
13 ON YOUR SIDE saw the emails that say an investigation found that Johnson was substantiated for threatening Moore.
Moore thought that would mean Johnson would be let go, but instead, Johnson was sent on a three-week paid leave.
“At that level of Chief of Staff, at the level of director of safety and security for the school, you should be held to a higher standard than anyone else in the district, especially when it comes to interactions with parents and community, especially when it comes to threatening a parent. There should be a zero-tolerance policy,” said Moore.
In a statement released on Wednesday, GRPS said the following:
“The district is aware of the concerns voiced by the parent who was a part of the telephone discussion in question. Within minutes of the call, both employees who were a part of the conversation reported what occurred to the appropriate parties. The district immediately brought in an outside firm to review the matter.
GRPS values the relationship between our team and the families we serve and takes concerns like the ones raised in this matter very seriously.
We recognize the call did not meet our standards for interacting with the valued members of our community and we apologize that the call was handled the way it was.
At the same time, we must respect the privacy of our team members and the district will not discuss personnel matters with the public.”
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