GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – More than a dozen community members stood and watched as Green Bay’s school board quickly went into closed session Thursday to discuss the future of Superintendent Claude Tiller – a man they say finally has them starting to feel comfortable in the school district.
“When Dr. Tiller came he started reaching out to us. He started talking to us. He started listening to us. It meant a lot to us. We haven’t had that from the previous leadership of the school district,” said Said Hassan, a former Green Bay schools employee.
Tiller was put on paid administrative leave this week. A district-hired private attorney has said the leave is for comments Tiller made on an Atlanta radio show last week.
School board members were in the closed session meeting for nearly three hours. We know only school board members and the private attorney were present in person. We don’t know if anyone joined virtually.
After the meeting, school board members said they couldn’t comment on what was discussed.
The meeting agenda said the closed session was to “discuss strategy for potential litigation and conferring with legal counsel regarding a personnel matter pertaining to the Superintendent of Schools and Learning.”
While many are reserving judgement until more information is released, some are already coming to Tiller’s defense.
Tiller joined the district in July, coming from Detroit.
The Atlanta radio comments that have him in this situation have been heard by few. Tiller was down there trying to recruit teachers. The segment was promoted as Navigating Educational Leadership: Insights from the First Black Superintendent of Green Bay Public Schools.
A recording seems to have been deleted from the internet. The district has a copy and says it will be released next Wednesday as it follows state open records law.
However, earlier this week, former school board member Ed Dorff said he heard Tiller’s radio comments and shared some of them with the school board. A second source, a former elected official who also says he heard the radio recording, confirmed to FOX 11 that Dorff’s characterization of Tiller’s comments was quote word-for-word accurate.
“He referred to a subordinate as a wicked witch and a b-i-t-c-h, spelled out. He spelled that out,” Dorff said. “He used the term lilly, lilly white to describe Green Bay… He called into question the ability of 92% of the teaching staff to really do their jobs effectively. These are all things I saw and heard.”
The second source that spoke with FOX 11 about what they heard in the recording says they believe there is no way Tiller returns to his position based on the radio comments and there “would have to be an apology of epic proportions.”
Stephanie Guzman, a former Green Bay Schools student and employee, said, “It wasn’t said in a way that was likeable to some people’s ears, I’m sure, but it doesn’t take away from the fact he was saying the truth.”
FOX 11’s attempts to reach Tiller for comment have been unsuccessful.
His supporters at the school board meeting say the legal reasons preventing Tiller from speaking are why they are here to defend him.
“It is finally that we have one person in power that finally looks like us and you’re going to want to let him go and put him on administrative leave when this could be a learning experience,” Guzman said. “If you’re BIOPAC, you can’t make a mistake, you can’t make any mistakes. That is the message you’re sending.”
Members of the group say their complaints have long been ignored, including instances of racism in Green Bay schools. They say Tiller’s actions should be remembered amid any potential mistake.
“We should be the ones making the decisions for our kids because obviously you all have been failing them all this time,” said Robin Scott, executive director of We All Rise. “Our kids are suffering. We’re educating black kids at the lowest rate across the country and we’re more concerned about things that a person said that needs to make changes. What if it was true?”
“Here we have him making a mistake and maybe not even a mistake,” said Guzman. “He was talking the truth in the way that he knew how to speak.”
FOX 11 has yet to hear from any school board members throughout this ordeal, which first began Monday. Only limited statements have been provided from the district through the private attorney it hired for this matter.
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