Oxford's embattled principal, Dave Madden.
Used to be when times got tough, Octorara board member could sooth their weathered brows by looking east toward the Coatesville School District thanking their lucky stars they didn’t have it as rough as Coatesville’s board members did.
Today though, according to a series of articles in the Philadelphia Inquire, there is a new neighboring school district Octorara’s directors may want to look to for soothing relief from the burden of overseeing Octorara Area School District: Oxford Area School District.
The Oxford district is in a none-to-pretty tug of war with their high school principal, David Madden, that threaten to split the district administration team, nine-member board and the entire Oxford community right down the middle.
Old timers will recognize Madden of course as the former principal of Octorara High School.
We wrote about the tussle back in April just as the mess was emerging into the headlines. For what were then unspecified reasons, Madden was placed on administrative leave by Raymond Fischer, Oxford’s Superintendent.
We now know some of what Madden, an ex-Marine, did to land in hot water. He wrote incendiary texts about a special ed student DURING a conference with the child’s parents and advocate.
Not a smart move to text anything you don’t want others to read. An even dumber, not to mention impolite, move to text while the child’s mother is in the room with you as you text away, about her child.
Anyway, the text was seen, records were subpoenaed and Madden as they say, was history.
But not so fast. That’s not the end of the story!
The Oxford School board, in a 6-3 vote last week, opted to restore Madden to his Principal position. Well almost.
Their stipulation was, in addition to being ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation and drug test before coming back to work, that Madden not have any interaction with the high schools 200 special ed kids.
So as of today Madden remains Principal but he has no say over the education of 20% of the school’s student body. Where’s King Solomon when you need him?
You can read the entire sorry saga here and here in today and yesterday’s Inquire. But stay tuned, we haven’t seen the last of this one. I suspect there are still more chapters of this story yet to be told.
Finally, say what you will about Octorara’s school board and administrative team, but believe me when I say this would never happen at Octorara under this current team of administrators and if it did happen, the administration and school board would handle it a whole lot better than our ham-handed neighbors to the south have.
Of that I am certain.
If it’s okay for the principal to treat a parent and student this way, then it must be okay for all teachers to do the same thing? This is admittedly a difficult situation for the principal to handle, but as the leader you must show restraint. This is why you are the leader. To keep him in the job, but remove duties seems like a poor precedent to set.
This is not any where near the first time madden has acted in this way. I have email from Dave Madden from when my son was in high school. My Son had an IEP ans he has severe Panic disorder since 5th grade. My son did not chose this and I certainly did not ask for this. Dave Madden sent emails to teachers about my family and that papents are one you make their kids crazy like him. And comments back from the teacher. This broke my heart because I have a child who was having debilitating panic attacks that I had to send to school , believing he was in safe caring hands. But no he wasn’t. It won’t be long untill we start to find out how may other times Dr. Madden has acted this way.
It seems the school board has a more fundamental problem. At one point the board President told the taxpayers they were “guests” of the school board. While I don’t condone outbursts in public meetings, the taxpayers are not “guests” they are IN FACT the EMPLOYERS of the school district, including the principal and all of the other employees.
Should anyone have any confusion about the way an educator should behave, they need look no further than the PA Dept. Of Education website. The Code of Professional Practice and Conduct states in part: Professional Educators shall exhibit consistent and equitable treatment of students, fellow educators and parents. They shall not discriminate on the basis of …disabling condition. Professional educators shall exhibit acceptable and professional language and communication skills. Their verbal and written communication with parents, students and staff shall reflect sensitivity to fundamental human rights of dignity, privacy and respect. Professional educators shall be open-minded, knowledgeable and use appropriate judgement and communication skills when responding to an issue in the educational environment. I have been an educator for more than 30 years . I find this man’s behavior to be a slap to those of us who are in the profession in order to help children succeed. In my district, he would have been fired on the spot. The OASD Board needs to follow Dr. Ray Fischer’s recommendation and terminate this poor excuse for a principal immediately!
[...] Parkesburg Today, July 18 [...]
Since administrators are independent agents, I guess you can’t blame powerful unions on this poor decision.
If they are going to remove 20% of his responsibility, then 20% of his pay and benefits should also be removed. I am glad I am NOT part of this school district and I feel confident that our school district would NOT tolerate this from our principal. Don’t give up Oxford!
It is a disgrace that he is still Principal. It is disgraceful that the school board voted him back 6-3. He should be terminated immediately and the 6 school board members who voted him to stay should be removed.
Get some sense people. This is ridiculous. There is no excuse for this behavior. Some people are complete idiots. Get some common sense and remove this loser!
This guy needs to GO, and have his certifications yanked permanently. If he had said this about neurotypical children (aka so-called “normal” children), he would have had the boot already. What the hell is up with that school board? If he talks that way about children who can’t help the way they are, why the he** do these people want him anywhere near their own kids? Or are they just like him???
Parents of special needs kids are stressed out and overloaded, and often times don’t have the time or energy to fight. That this is happening in the summer is great timing, as many MANY MANY parents from school districts ALL OVER THE COUNTY (we are talking several hundred if not more) will be entirely happy to attend the Oxford school board meetings in support of the Oxford parents and special ed students. Myself included. Some have already volunteered (and some went to that meeting, and are on the videotape). The wagons are circled and ready to go.
I agree with Lynn!
In my dealings with Madden, he didn’t like any kid that wasn’t “average”! He considered kids that excelled academically to be a pain and would never try to accommodate them. This is an injustice to all kids with special needs and a total embarrasment to our district.
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Please consider attending the next Oxford Area School District (OASD) school board meeting with me. Ask ahead of time to be on the agenda and formally share your perspective. Support all students. Insist on being heard. You can make a difference!
All of us by nature, are so quick to make assumptions and accusations… It is even easier to do when only part of a story has been published. I am the parent of the 16 yr. old daughter, whom Dr. Madden had defended against the 19 yr old very troubled male student last November at the OAHS and let me tell all of you haters, that if it were your daughter who was threatened by this student, you would stop and feel differently. If it was not for Dr. Madden protecting her from this disturbed student, who had several behavior issues in the school, then my daughter would have been seriously injured. This student followed her to class and had ever intention of harming her. The state police were called and my house was watched for days for fear of what he may do to my daughter. He also threatened to harm others at the school, and yet he was let back in the school courtesy of the school board after a brief suspension. Meanwhile, I was concerned what this student may due to my daughter. Dr. Madden was the only one who protected her that day. All of you need to be careful how you judge others when only have the story is published. Shame on all of you. If it was your daughter that was threatened by this dangerous student, you would feel differently. Thank you Dr. Madden for looking out for my daughter when I couldn’t. I will be forever grateful to you and so sorry this has ruined your reputation.
Sorry for the typo.. I meant only “half” the story is published.