Assistant principal files whistle-blower suit
Says HISD retaliating over Sharpstown disclosures
By JASON SPENCER (Houston Chronicle, April 16, 2004)

An HISD assistant principal has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit accusing Houston school officials of retaliating against him for pointing out falsely reported dropout numbers at Sharpstown High School.

Robert Kimball, who says he now works in an elementary school office the size of a closet, is asking for his old high school job back and $250,000.

The Sharpstown controversy prompted a Texas Education Agency review of 5,458 records of students who left Houston schools in the 2000-2001 school year. The TEA determined that 2,999 of those students, who have since been reclassified as dropouts, had wrong or missing information.

A TEA-appointed monitor has recently reported significant improvement in HISD's dropout reporting practices.

Houston Independent School District officials have said Kimball is partially to blame for the Sharpstown problem because he failed to report his concerns to the appropriate administrators.

"The allegations in this lawsuit are primarily the same allegations presented in Mr. Kimball's grievance," HISD attorney Kaye DeWalt said in a written statement. "The Board heard his grievance in January and denied it. The District continues to adamantly deny these allegations."

Kimball and his attorney, Damian LaCroix, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In his lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state district court, Kimball says he noticed that Sharpstown administrators had incorrectly reported no dropouts for the 2001-2002 school year. Kimball says he knew at least 30 students who had left the school, according to the lawsuit.

Kimball said HISD administrators did nothing when he told them about the discrepancy in the fall of 2002.

"Consequently, Dr. Kimball brought his concerns to the news media," the lawsuit states. "As a result of the media reporting on the issue, HISD was forced to conduct an investigation into the integrity of (Sharpstown's) dropout information."

HISD eventually docked two weeks' pay from Principal Carol Wichmann's retirement because of her role in the scandal. Computer specialist Kenneth Cuadra, whom the district held responsible for the data, and Kimball appealed their transfers to other schools, but the school board denied their requests. Trustees accused Kimball of being more interested in getting on television than in the welfare of the students.

The district took Kimball out of Sharpstown and sent him to a district office about a week after he told a person he described as a district-appointed investigator about his concerns, according to the lawsuit. HISD then moved Kimball to Ashford Elementary, where he says he was told to alphabetize lunch cards and perform janitorial services.

Last month, Kimball was assigned to Sharpview Elementary, but the lawsuit says he has not been given a key to the building and hasn't been given any duties consistent with his assistant principal title.

HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said Kimball's responsibilities at the school include handling discipline, observing teachers, assisting on a park project and managing the campus when the principal is away.

Kimball was transferred out of Ashford because he did not get along with the principal, Abbott said.