Report: Principal demoted for incidents other than school fights

Baldwin Middle-Senior High principal reassigned to Forrest High

BALDWIN, Fla. – Since the Duval County School Board voted to demote the now-former Baldwin Middle-Senior High School principal for misconduct, a report is released showing what that misconduct entailed.

The board released its report Monday on Rhonda Motley. She has since been reassigned as assistant principal at Forrest High School.

Baldwin Middle-Senior High grabbed a lot of attention when cellphone video of two fights surfaced. Both fights happened at the school on Motley's watch.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at the time he was concerned about the culture at the school and was launching an investigation.

On March 26, Motley learned she would likely be reassigned and demoted. Along with that demotion comes a pay cut of nearly $30,000.

A district spokesperson said she was making $100,801 a year, and now she's earning $71,345.

The report does not mention any of fighting but does cite three specific incidents that helped lead to the decision to demote Motley.

One is what happened on March 4. A picture taken by a student shows another student taped to a chair in class (pictured, right).

A letter to Motley says "you used poor judgment when you failed to provide disciplinary action to the teacher ... for the inappropriate form of discipline."

On Feb. 12, the report indicates, during a "code red" drill, the principal banged on the door of the guidance counselor during a meeting with a student and parent and said, "You're dead! If this was the real thing, you would have been shot."

The report calls the behavior "inappropriate."

Finally, the report indicates Motley did not report an alleged sexual assault to authorities after a student told a teacher she had been raped by a family member.

Human resources referred to that as a "lapse in judgment."

As for the fights, there is no mention of them in the investigation that led to Motley's demotion.