Superintendent Defends Liberty Middle Principal

School board trustee Ben Trotter has been the focus of public scrutiny for the past two months.

The Liberty board member is accused of allegedly making insensitve remarks regarding special needs students, while attending a meeting at Liberty Middle School in February.

Trotter is accused of saying the district could save money, "Over at Liberty High we have retarded children in wheelchairs doing nothing but playing with cars and taking up space. In my day, we kept those kids at home."

At Monday's meeting a parent again called for Trotter's resignation, while another asked for an apology at the very least.

“Nothing less than a resignation of Mr. Trotter is sufficient,” said Brett Turner, the parent of a special needs child.

“I would also like to ask you, Mr. Chairman (Alex Saitta) and board members, how would you feel and react if such a statement was made about your child? Would you not be defending them and seeking justice for them? Please do the right thing.”

Trotter has said that he will not resign from the board and denies making the comments.

After the meeting, Trotter told WYFF, "God Almighty could come back tonight, and tell them I didn't do it, and (the media), and (the public) would still believe that lying principal, that's the truth."

As a result of the remarks, Superintendent Harry Hunt on Tuesday released this statement, "Our school district has been the focus of intense media coverage over the last month. The focus escalated last night when board member Ben Trotter called Liberty Middle School Principal Donivan Edwards 'a liar' and 'a lying principal' during an interview with local television stations."

Hunt also released a document which summarizes the Feb. 28 faculty meeting at Liberty Middle School and is signed by staff members in attendance. The document, attached to this article, is dated a month after the alleged incident occurred.

"Mr. Edwards and the teachers prepared the document and have signed their names to verify that the document is an accurate summary of Mr. Trotter’s comments and the context in which he made them," Hunt wrote in the statement.

"I assure Mr. Edwards that I fully support him as a man of integrity, a gentleman, and a positive school leader. I have full confidence that he is completely trustworthy. Mr. Edwards, his family, and his faculty have been unfairly humiliated."

Hunt, following the March board meeting, released a statement regarding the incident after being told by a reporter Trotter had called him "a liar," regarding a meeting where the two had discussed a possible investigation.

"As I have stated, Mr. Trotter did approach Mr. Saitta and me about an investigation," Hunt wrote. "He requested that we investigate district employees who were allegedly making negative comments about him following a faculty meeting at Liberty Middle School. I told him that it’s often hard to determine what one person says versus the other. I said that an investigation could be conducted and that we would have to report all findings. At that point, he said he would drop his request for an investigation."