The School Town of Munster fired a long-time middle school counselor accused of violating student confidentiality laws Monday night.
The School Board of Trustees voted 3-1 – with Board President Kyle Dempsey absent – to not renew the contract of Julie Atkinson during its Monday night meeting. Atkinson had been a counselor with Wilbur Wright Middle School for 17 years.
Addressing the board and the audience before the vote, Atkinson, who was placed on leave from her position January 10, said the basis of her firing was that she’d consulted with a licensed social worker about a report conducted on a student in crisis. The child’s mom, she told the Post-Tribune, was aware of their actions and didn’t have a problem with them since they’d been working with them since early in the school year.
She’s also “extremely familiar” with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects students’ educational records and personally identifiable information. People who have access to this information either have a legitimate educational interest – which Atkinson said the social worker had by virtue of them working with the child – or a parent’s permission to see it, which she said they had.
“As a licensed school counselor, I’m extremely aware of my ethical obligations as they relate to confidentiality and FERPA – which are two separate things – because those are the literal basis of my profession,” Atkinson said. “If students or parents don’t trust me, they won’t talk to me, so to suggest that I have violated a student’s right to privacy is perhaps the most offensive thing I could be accused of doing.”
Atkinson pointed out, however, that the administrator who initiated the action against her, Principal Bojan Jovanovic, “wasn’t able to answer the questions, ‘What is FERPA?’ ‘What does FERPA mean?’ and ‘What provision of FERPA did she violate?’” during a hearing on the matter with the School Board and her. She also said the mother of the child in question said she’s never to this day heard from anyone in the administration about the incident, which took place in November.
“The psychological and physical effects I have experienced during this forced social isolation have been profound because my coworkers were allowed to just think I was ill,” she said. “At one point, (Jovanovic) encouraged the staff to send me a ‘Thinking of You’ card as if admin also didn’t know why I wasn’t at work and wanted to support me.”
Atkinson said she was given the opportunity to resign “many times” but didn’t because she didn’t violate any policies or laws, and she wanted her children to see the importance of standing up for what’s right “even when you know you’re not going to win.”
“If I can be fired for this – despite having enthusiastic parental support – then I would urge the other counselors and social workers in the district to take notice,” Atkinson said. “If I can be fired after 17 years of being consistently rated as ‘highly effective,’ then any employee in this district can be fired at any time.”
Outgoing STM Superintendent Bret Heller declined comment by email Tuesday.
Scores of parents posted messages supporting Atkinson on a social media post her husband, Ben Atkinson, made asking whether Atkinson would be able to speak at the meeting. Heather Burmester, who was present, said Atkinson played a crucial role in one of her son’s acclimations to school when they moved to town.
“It’s not just, ‘Oh, she’s a good counselor.’ The experience people have with Mrs. Atkinson, the experience that our students of color have reported with her is above, above average. She’s irreplaceable,” Burmester said. “If there was an issue, there has to be some other recourse so this board could say ‘No’ to certifying her termination.
“We cannot lose her, especially on the heels of the Elliott fiasco, where we lost six good people.”
Board members John Castro, Amy Sinder and Ingrid Schwarz Wolf voted to terminate Atkinson, while Board Vice President Kristen Smith voted against it.
Debora Porter, UniServ Director for Area 1 of the Indiana State Teachers Association, said she and their staff fought as hard as they could, but there was an imbalance of power they couldn’t overcome.
“We felt we were on the just side, but they had all the power, and under Indiana law, we’ve gone as far as we can go,” Porter said. “You would think that the way public education is under attack in this state, we would cling to each other, but it seems the stress is getting to everybody.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.