Since last October, the Eugene School District 4J board has quietly investigated whether Superintendent Andy Dey retaliated against a female middle school teacher who had accused this district of discrimination under his watch.

Last week, the district delivered its answer: Yes, Dey did retaliate against the teacher. The school board voted unanimously to reprimand Dey and order him to go through training around issues of retaliation. 

But the board did so without naming Dey or even hinting the superintendent it had hired less than two years ago had done anything wrong.

That might be changing. 

 For the first time, Eugene school board members have signaled that Dey is under scrutiny. 

Last week, the board announced it will meet in a closed-door executive session Monday night  to “review and evaluate the employment-related performance of the chief executive officer.” 4J considers the superintendent to be the chief executive. 

Since the start of the year, the school board met five times in executive session described only as considering  “the dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent.” 

As EW  first reported Jan. 26, the school board had been reviewing the results of its investigation into evidence Dey discriminated against the teacher and then targeted her for retaliation. 

The notice for the Feb. 26 meeting is the first to indicate Dey is the focus of the board members’ attention. Moving forward, the question of Dey’s remaining contract with the district still hangs in the balance. 

The board has yet to address whether it will seek to remove Dey from his superintendent position. 

To view EW’s earlier coverage of the Dey investigation, click here. 

THIS STORY WAS DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LOCAL REPORTING INITIATIVE OF THE CATALYST JOURNALISM PROJECT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION. TO LEARN MORE, VISIT CATALYSTJOURNALISM.UOREGON.EDU.

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