Dear Members of the Board of Directors of Hogan Preparatory Academy School District:

As members of the Hogan Preparatory Academy School District, we, the undersigned parents, former students, teachers and taxpayers, hereby petition the Board of Directors of Hogan Preparatory Academy for the removal of the Superintendent, Dr. Danny Tipton and the Human Resources Manager, Ms. JoAnn Faircloth.

We demand their immediate removal based on our collective and varied experiences as follows:

1. Under the leadership of Dr. Tipton, the district has become riddled with corruption and abuse of power. We have zero confidence in both Dr. Tipton’s and Ms. Faircloth’s ability and intent to lead the district in an honest and forthright manner. We believe that their removal will be in the best interests of the community, and above all, the students.
2. Tantamount to abuse of power, Dr. Tipton and Ms. Faircloth with the assistance of the private law firm, Fisher & Phillips LLP, have deprived children, parents and teachers of their rights and due process. We have become aware that over the past few years, both the Superintendent and Human Resources Manager, on behalf of HPA School District- its families, students, and taxpayers, have retained and relied upon the assistance of such law firms while incurring and paying substantial sums of school district dollars. Dr. Tipton has used taxpayer dollars to intimidate, threaten, and take punitive legal actions against parents, teachers, and community members who attempted to exercise their constitutional rights to seek due process protection.
3. Due to the complete indifference of policies and procedures of HPA School District to protect teachers and students, many have experienced false/improper dismissals, suspensions and expulsions under the leadership of Dr. Tipton with the assistance of Ms. Faircloth.
4. Safety and wellbeing of our students and teachers with numerous incidents at Hogan Preparatory Middle schools has been and is currently being compromised due to Dr. Tipton’s lack of integrity, leadership, care, and low moral standards. It is our opinion that both Dr. Tipton and Ms. Faircloth only care about their own remuneration and self-promoted image.
5. Dr.Tipton lacks educational leadership skills. Despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on technology for students, the overall test ratings have been stagnant during his tenure. Contrary to promises and representations made by Dr. Tipton, the students of HPA School District are not college ready when they graduate.
6. Dr.Tipton has participated in bid-rigging by attempting to award his friend, owner of Daye Transportation, the transportation contract for HPA School District.
7. Clearly violating HPA School District policy concerning conflict of interest (Board Policy 4840), Dr. Tipton appointed a maintenance contractor for HPA School District who also serves as his personal maintenance contractor for his rental properties. Dr. Tipton has approved hundreds of thousands of dollars to be paid to the maintenance contractor over several years.
8. Ms.Faircloth has used her position to deny employees of added benefits that would help in the retention of employees. Her actions have cost HPA School District a 35% increase in benefits to employees which created hardships on employees’ economic conditions.
9. No action has been taken to address the need for improvement of morale throughout the entire school district. Under the tenure of Dr. Tipton and Ms. Faircloth, HPA School District has had an astronomical turnover of employees in excess of 60 resignations or unlawful terminations each year for the past several years resulting in numerous lawsuits.
10. We have become aware that Dr. Tipton and Ms. Faircloth have hired unethical and/or unqualified staff during their tenure. There has been consistent “fast tracking” by way of multiple promotions and pay increases based on favoritism as opposed to merit. Efforts made by parents, teachers, students and other community members to confront Dr. Tipton and Ms. Faircloth of these problems have been met with contempt and assistance of private legal counsel.
11. Dr.Tipton and Ms. Faircloth use their positions to exercise personal influence throughout HPA School District and conceal information from HPA School District Board Members.
     

It is our opinion that both Dr. Danny Tipton and JoAnn Faircloth have negatively affected the credibility of HPA School District by making false statements to stakeholders about their commitment to honesty and integrity. This petition is being distributed publicly to increase the awareness of the growing concerns that will surely lead to the closure of Hogan Preparatory Academy School District. In efforts to fulfill HPA School District’s vision statement to develop educated, compassionate, self-motivated leaders, we make a formal demand for the immediate termination of Dr. Danny Tipton and JoAnn Faircloth, Superintendent and Human Resources Manager, respectively.

All parents, former students, teachers, staff, and taxpayers can show their support of the removal of the Superintendent and Human Resources Manager by signing this petition.