Mike Morris Returns As School Superintendent

School Superintendent Mike Morris announced this morning that he is returning to work from a self-imposed mental health leave, effective today (7/13). The announcement came in an email to the ARPS community and in a release to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. His announcement states:

Dear ARPS Community:

I am writing to share that I have been cleared to return to work as of today, July 13, 2023.  

I am deeply appreciative of so many people for their work and support during my medical leave. Dr. Slaughter stepped up at a critical time and has been an outstanding leader of the district over the past two months. His steady approach and creative problem-solving have been precisely what the district needed.  

Our educators and staff provided a strong end-of-year experience for our students; they deserve our praise and respect for this challenging work in May and June, as well as for getting our summer programs off to a great start last week.

Finally, I would like to thank the many individuals from across the ARPS and broader community who personally reached out to me with messages of support.  These messages directly contributed to my recovery and are very much appreciated.  

Over the next few weeks, I will be meeting with each principal and all central office leaders to get caught up on the planning and work that has been started or completed by the leadership team during my leave and to continue preparing for the upcoming school year.  I look forward to sharing more information about those preparations and plans with the ARPS community after I hear directly from school and district leaders, well before school reopens in August.

Once again, thank you for the ongoing support.

Best,

Mike

Morris’ announcement offered no acknowledgement of ongoing crises in the Amherst public schools or of outstanding charges against him.

Morris has been on medical leave since May 12. He announced on that day that he would be taking “a mental health leave effective immediately in response to the significant challenges that I believe are due, in part, to the intensity of work and life since the pandemic first began in March 2020.” School Finance Director Doug Slaughter has been serving as acting superintendent in Morris’ absence. 

Morris’ leave commenced amidst a burgeoning scandal in the school district centered on complaints about discrimination against and bullying of LGBTQIA+ students at Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS) by both staff and fellow students, the existence of a toxic climate at ARMS, and alleged hiring irregularities within the district. Morris was also the subject of a no confidence letter issued by the Amherst Pelham Education Association (APEA) and supported by over 80% of its membership. Since May, there have been widespread calls for a comprehensive investigation of Morris and his role in subverting investigations into the alleged bullying of LGBTQIA+ students as well as calls for his resignation and for his dismissal. The scandal at ARMS was reported comprehensively in the Amherst Regional High School newspaper, The Graphic (see also here) and was subsequently picked up by national media outlets including the Boston Globe and NEPM.

The school committee indicated at their meeting on June 20 that they would take no action on any of the complaints and allegations associated with the ARMS scandal or on calls to investigate or dismiss Morris until the conclusion of an ongoing Title IX investigation. The school committee indicated at their meeting of July 6 that the investigation, initially focused on the complaint of a parent regarding discrimination against a single student, has been expanded. There was no indication whether Morris himself is a subject of the investigation. A report is expected at the end of August.

Morris’ announcement this morning was met with shock and dismay by several of those who have been closely following the crises and writing about them in local and social media.

Ali Wicks-Lim, writing on her Facebook page said:
“This is not ok. Morris was ‘in charge’ when LGBTQ+ kids were harmed at the Amherst Middle School. He helped create/ foster the toxic environment where staff could not address the issue or so many other issues for that matter, to the extent that there was a vote of no confidence in his administration from 80% of the staff. He flat out lied to the public and a school committee meeting when he told them he was unaware of anti-trans and homophobic bullying. He knew, he just failed to act. And here is where Amherst’s bullying and homophobia problems intersect with their racism problem — because Doreen Cunningham (a Black woman) was escorted from her office and placed on forced leave for her role in the harm that was done, and he is allowed back on his own terms after taking leave on his own terms. The imbalance of consequences is staggering.”

Jena Schwartz, who has frequently called for accountability from Morris and the School Committee (see e.g. here, here, and here) said in the comments section of today’s (7/13) Daily Hampshire Gazette, “I urge Gazette readers, ARPS families, and Amherst community members to take a critical look at this situation, where Morris is allowed to waltz back to work while his colleague Doreen Cunningham is on administrative leave pending results of several investigations (investigations, I might add, that are likely to reach the same conclusions as the exhaustive investigations conducted by the ARHS students whose Graphic articles reveal tremendous breaches of responsibility on the part of Morris himself). What kind of community are we? Morris’s return tells us the answer. And it’s deeply disturbing and frankly antithetical to the values Amherst and ARPS claim to embody.”

Both writers sent letters to the school committee demanding that they schedule an emergency meeting for the purpose of voting to place Mike Morris on administrative leave.

Morris made no acknowledgement that there is an unresolved scandal in the school system and gave no indication that he plans to address it, nor that he plans to address the accusations against him. Throughout his leave, Morris refused to answer any questions concerning the crises at ARMS.

The Indy reached out to Morris, Slaughter, and RSC Chair Ben Herrington this morning for comments and clarification, and all declined to respond. 

Morris’ return creates potential conflicts of interest in resolving the crises at ARMS and in moving forward expeditiously to address the toxic climate in that building. With Morris returning to his role as supervisor of personnel who have lodged complaints against him, will any safeguards be put in place to prevent retribution against that staff.? And will Morris be the sole recipient of the report on the Title IX investigation and will he have sole authority to determine what information is to be released to the public? Will he have sole authority to decide what actions, if any, will be taken in response to the findings? Acting Superintendent Doug Slaughter had previously pledged to share with the public all of the report’s content that can be legally made public.