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ALLMAN HARASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION
TEACHERS EXPLAIN |
SDUHSD Teachers Share Examples of Allman Intimidation
While it sounds unthinkable, it is unfortunately true that Trustee Michael Allman has embarked on a campaign of intimidation of teachers and community members who canvas for signatures in Area 4. He has also enlisted supporters and family members to engage in the same behavior. Want proof? Photos and the words of affected teachers are presented here as evidence of this astounding behavior. There is more to this recall than just boardroom outbursts. This isn't just about offensive politics; this is also about character.
Check out these other Allman Recall pages:
Check out these other Allman Recall pages:
Teachers Followed for Three Miles by Allman's SonEarl Warren Middle School teacher Kelli Noonan has written Interim Superintendent Lucille Lynch about her experience with Nick Allman (son of Trustee Michael Allman) and an unknown male. The incident, which occurred on August 7, 2021, involved verbal taunting and following the teachers by car, to a teacher's own residence, over three miles away. Read Noonan's account, below.
Updated: August 19, 2021 |
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Date: Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 9:07 AM
Subject: Teacher concern
To: Lucile Lynch <[email protected]>, Maureen Muir <[email protected]>, Michael Allman <[email protected]>, Melisse Mossy <[email protected]>, Katrina Young <[email protected]>, Bryan Marcus <[email protected]>, Tina Douglas <[email protected]>
Dear Interim Superintendent Lynch, SDUHSD Board of Trustees, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Bryan Marcus, Associate Superintendent of Business Services Tina Douglas,
As a teacher in this district for 20 years, I write with grave concern about Trustee Michael Allman. Since the 80s when I graduated from San Dieguito, I have seen the culture and greatness of our district first hand. Since his election, Michael Allman has threatened what makes this district great. Despite working harder than ever before and wanting nothing more than to be back to normal, I feel undermined, bullied, threatened, and marginalized by Michael Allman and the specific community who support him in attacking us. I am seeing the excellence that we teachers have helped create now disintegrate into chaos.
It is because of this I feel it necessary to canvas Michael Allman’s boundary area to share my experience and concerns about his leadership. These concerns were only heightened by my experience on Saturday, August 7th in Del Mar as a colleague and I were gathering signatures for his recall. We were approached by a woman who was then joined by another male who taunted, “Let’s have some fun.” Feeling uncomfortable, my colleague and I started walking toward my car a couple blocks away while the two of them followed very closely on foot. They spoke loudly and disparagingly about how “teachers were on vacation, in hotel rooms, barely logging on for a couple hours a day...I want that job” and “It’s amazing how grocery workers managed to report to their job every day, but teachers didn’t.” As we approached my car, the male came up to my window and stated, “You’re leaving us? Where are you guys going? We were just having fun.”
As we sat in my car reeling from this behavior, two cars parked behind me -- one of them being Nick Allman, Michael Allman’s son and the other one was that same parent quoted above. I proceeded to drive a couple blocks and pull over, as did the other two cars. That same male came to my window and said, “Ready to have some more fun?” Again feeling threatened, I drove a few more blocks as the two cars still followed. My colleague and I decided to go home - they continued to follow us for three miles. While walking up to my colleague’s door, Nick Allman and the other man followed on foot behind us.
We told them to stop and “it’s creepy being followed by two males” and we also stated that we “felt threatened and scared.”
Their response was, “Well, you don’t have to feel scared.” Eventually the two men left after several more minutes but not before they continued to be aggressive and confrontational even after they knew it was my colleague’s home.
These are not actions or words that support teachers or create a safe learning environment. These antics are divisive, intimidating, and threatening - the opposite of the behavior we pledge to model for our students and families. Our experience this day clearly illustrated the disruption we are feeling in our amazing district. I am concerned for the future of our district and what Mr. Allman and his parent group are creating - a hostile working and learning environment. Teachers are not feeling trusted or valued. I urge you to think of the ripple effect this has and react with clarity of principle, without hiding behind the most narrow of interpretations of your job as district leaders. While his intention may be to intimidate teachers, it has instead driven me to recruit others and devote more time to this cause. I will continue to fight for the soul of this district, when the only thing we all want to do is teach - teach in a safe, supportive environment for the benefit of students. For the sake of our district community, I am asking for your help and look forward to a response.
Sincerely,
Kelli Noonan, Earl Warren Middle School
Subject: Teacher concern
To: Lucile Lynch <[email protected]>, Maureen Muir <[email protected]>, Michael Allman <[email protected]>, Melisse Mossy <[email protected]>, Katrina Young <[email protected]>, Bryan Marcus <[email protected]>, Tina Douglas <[email protected]>
Dear Interim Superintendent Lynch, SDUHSD Board of Trustees, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Bryan Marcus, Associate Superintendent of Business Services Tina Douglas,
As a teacher in this district for 20 years, I write with grave concern about Trustee Michael Allman. Since the 80s when I graduated from San Dieguito, I have seen the culture and greatness of our district first hand. Since his election, Michael Allman has threatened what makes this district great. Despite working harder than ever before and wanting nothing more than to be back to normal, I feel undermined, bullied, threatened, and marginalized by Michael Allman and the specific community who support him in attacking us. I am seeing the excellence that we teachers have helped create now disintegrate into chaos.
It is because of this I feel it necessary to canvas Michael Allman’s boundary area to share my experience and concerns about his leadership. These concerns were only heightened by my experience on Saturday, August 7th in Del Mar as a colleague and I were gathering signatures for his recall. We were approached by a woman who was then joined by another male who taunted, “Let’s have some fun.” Feeling uncomfortable, my colleague and I started walking toward my car a couple blocks away while the two of them followed very closely on foot. They spoke loudly and disparagingly about how “teachers were on vacation, in hotel rooms, barely logging on for a couple hours a day...I want that job” and “It’s amazing how grocery workers managed to report to their job every day, but teachers didn’t.” As we approached my car, the male came up to my window and stated, “You’re leaving us? Where are you guys going? We were just having fun.”
As we sat in my car reeling from this behavior, two cars parked behind me -- one of them being Nick Allman, Michael Allman’s son and the other one was that same parent quoted above. I proceeded to drive a couple blocks and pull over, as did the other two cars. That same male came to my window and said, “Ready to have some more fun?” Again feeling threatened, I drove a few more blocks as the two cars still followed. My colleague and I decided to go home - they continued to follow us for three miles. While walking up to my colleague’s door, Nick Allman and the other man followed on foot behind us.
We told them to stop and “it’s creepy being followed by two males” and we also stated that we “felt threatened and scared.”
Their response was, “Well, you don’t have to feel scared.” Eventually the two men left after several more minutes but not before they continued to be aggressive and confrontational even after they knew it was my colleague’s home.
These are not actions or words that support teachers or create a safe learning environment. These antics are divisive, intimidating, and threatening - the opposite of the behavior we pledge to model for our students and families. Our experience this day clearly illustrated the disruption we are feeling in our amazing district. I am concerned for the future of our district and what Mr. Allman and his parent group are creating - a hostile working and learning environment. Teachers are not feeling trusted or valued. I urge you to think of the ripple effect this has and react with clarity of principle, without hiding behind the most narrow of interpretations of your job as district leaders. While his intention may be to intimidate teachers, it has instead driven me to recruit others and devote more time to this cause. I will continue to fight for the soul of this district, when the only thing we all want to do is teach - teach in a safe, supportive environment for the benefit of students. For the sake of our district community, I am asking for your help and look forward to a response.
Sincerely,
Kelli Noonan, Earl Warren Middle School
Teachers Followed and Intimidated by Trustee AllmanRespected and long-time teachers Rob Ross, Laura Bennett, and Ruth Magnuson, all of San Dieguito Academy, sent the following letter to Interim Superintendent Lucille Lynch about their experiences with Trustee Allman on Saturday, July 31, 2021.
Updated: August 11, 2021 |
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August 9, 2021
Date: Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 12:14 PM
To: Lucile Lynch <[email protected]>, Maureen Muir <[email protected]>, Michael Allman <[email protected]>, Melisse Mossy <[email protected]>, Katrina Young <[email protected]>, Bryan Marcus <[email protected]>, Tina Douglas <[email protected]>
Dear Ms. Lynch,
Thank you for your welcome back letter. We appreciate your focus on creating a “safe supportive, and inclusive” environment in our schools and district. We would like to share our experience of some concerning events regarding Michael Allman that occurred Saturday, July 21, 2021, that we believe undermine your goals for the district.
We are experienced teachers in the SDUHSD district. Ruth Magnuson has been teaching for 24 years as an English teacher and has a leadership role as AVID Coordinator for SDA, runs the training for our AVID and English Learner (EL) tutors every year, served in several SDA committees including WASC, School Site Council, and this year’s inaugural DEI, and now is piloting a new course titled Ethnic Literature. Rob Ross has taught our district for 21 years, is a former Teacher of the Year for SDA, WASC Coordinator for SDA, former District English Coordinator, English Department Chair, Induction New Teacher Mentor, runs our Having a Voice Leadership program and helps to lead SDA’s Link Crew. Laura Bennett has taught English in our district for 11 years along with AVID, English Language Development (ELD), and has been the SDA site English Learner coordinator for the last six years.
We were out canvassing near Torrey Pines High School last Saturday, engaging in our legal democratic right, because we would like our district to simply return to some degree of decorum and normalcy. As experienced teachers in this district, we are proud of what we have accomplished, achieving great success over the last twenty years without disruptive conflict or rancor. Michael Allman has upset that balance in ways that have shown he is not fit to represent our district.
We were walking as a team of three and heading to our first door, when we were shocked to see Michael Allman and his wife marching up behind us. We stopped and asked who they were, just to be sure. They introduced themselves as Michael and Lee Ann Allman. We then asked them what they were doing and they said they were going to present “their side of the story.” We asked them if they were going to let us talk or if they were going to start shouting or something the moment the residents opened the door. Ms. Allman responded that they would let us talk, but Michael Allman only stared past us, which we took to be an indication that he would not, indeed, let us talk.
At this moment, we knew the intention of the Allmans was clear. This was not going to be a polite discussion of the issues, but a forceful attempt to disrupt and intimidate. Imagine for a moment, you are a resident of Area 4 and you get a knock on the door on a Saturday morning, three teachers introduce themselves, then suddenly another man starts yelling over their voices that they are telling lies. The resident would undoubtedly be confused, perhaps scared and most likely not want to get involved.
Is this what we want to put our district families through? Is this behavior from Michael Allman proper for a leader of a district of thousands of children?
We made this point to Mr. Allman: that it appeared his intention was disruption and intimidation, not debate, and he remained silent at this suggestion, again looking past us.
At this point the Allmans said, “You know who we are, who are you?” As we were acting in our legal, constitutional and moral right, with nothing to be ashamed of, or hide, we shared our names and Michael Allman wrote them down. As an employee of the district, dealing with such a person as Michael Allman, this is very concerning. Why does he need our names? Is he going to target us in some way? Is he going to cut funding to programs we work in? Is he going to attempt to search all of our emails with a FOIA request (as he has done to others)? Is he going to attempt to have us terminated for political reasons?
We are concerned that this is creating an unsafe working environment. How can we trust decisions made by the board when a board member acts this way? If district employees no longer trust the board, what effect does that have on morale, on teamwork, on the effectiveness of this incredibly important work we do in helping to educate our community’s children?
We decided to knock on our first door to see what the Allmans would do. Even though there were three of us in a narrow entryway, Mr. Allman squeezed past Laura Bennett and Ruth Magnuson to stand shoulder to shoulder with Rob Ross at the door. He appeared ready to begin his “defense” the moment the door was opened, so again, showing his intention to disrupt and intimidate, not debate.
Luckily, the resident was either not home, or chose not to answer the door with five people standing outside. We thought better of putting residents through whatever Mr. Allman had planned to do or say, and returned to Solana Highlands Park where we had organized earlier that morning. The Allmans followed us back to the park in their car, and waited while we decided what to do next.
Eventually, we decided to go out again and the Allmans followed us and other teachers for the next two hours. We decided not to put any residents through the Allmans’ antics, so we let them follow us as we walked around, hoping other colleagues out canvassing would be able to engage with residents unmolested. One retired teacher with us later called the police and reported feeling intimidated by the Allmans following her everywhere she went.
As district employees and as citizens, we have never experienced anything like this. It was clear through all of our interactions that Mr. Allman’s intention was to disrupt and to intimidate, both us and any resident who might wish to sign the petition to recall him. We believe this is improper, goes against district bylaws governing the comportment and behavior of board members and could lead to more dangerous outcomes if Mr. Allman and his supporters continue on this path.
We implore you to please act, as is your responsibility, to reign in the behavior of Mr. Allman.
School is starting very soon and we look forward to getting back to the classroom to do the work we love more than anything, helping kids grow and succeed. All we ask of you, and the school board, is to help create a “safe, supportive, inclusive” and “normal” environment in which to do that important work.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Rob Ross SDA Teacher
Laura Bennett SDA Teacher
Ruth Magnuson SDA Teacher
Date: Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 12:14 PM
To: Lucile Lynch <[email protected]>, Maureen Muir <[email protected]>, Michael Allman <[email protected]>, Melisse Mossy <[email protected]>, Katrina Young <[email protected]>, Bryan Marcus <[email protected]>, Tina Douglas <[email protected]>
Dear Ms. Lynch,
Thank you for your welcome back letter. We appreciate your focus on creating a “safe supportive, and inclusive” environment in our schools and district. We would like to share our experience of some concerning events regarding Michael Allman that occurred Saturday, July 21, 2021, that we believe undermine your goals for the district.
We are experienced teachers in the SDUHSD district. Ruth Magnuson has been teaching for 24 years as an English teacher and has a leadership role as AVID Coordinator for SDA, runs the training for our AVID and English Learner (EL) tutors every year, served in several SDA committees including WASC, School Site Council, and this year’s inaugural DEI, and now is piloting a new course titled Ethnic Literature. Rob Ross has taught our district for 21 years, is a former Teacher of the Year for SDA, WASC Coordinator for SDA, former District English Coordinator, English Department Chair, Induction New Teacher Mentor, runs our Having a Voice Leadership program and helps to lead SDA’s Link Crew. Laura Bennett has taught English in our district for 11 years along with AVID, English Language Development (ELD), and has been the SDA site English Learner coordinator for the last six years.
We were out canvassing near Torrey Pines High School last Saturday, engaging in our legal democratic right, because we would like our district to simply return to some degree of decorum and normalcy. As experienced teachers in this district, we are proud of what we have accomplished, achieving great success over the last twenty years without disruptive conflict or rancor. Michael Allman has upset that balance in ways that have shown he is not fit to represent our district.
We were walking as a team of three and heading to our first door, when we were shocked to see Michael Allman and his wife marching up behind us. We stopped and asked who they were, just to be sure. They introduced themselves as Michael and Lee Ann Allman. We then asked them what they were doing and they said they were going to present “their side of the story.” We asked them if they were going to let us talk or if they were going to start shouting or something the moment the residents opened the door. Ms. Allman responded that they would let us talk, but Michael Allman only stared past us, which we took to be an indication that he would not, indeed, let us talk.
At this moment, we knew the intention of the Allmans was clear. This was not going to be a polite discussion of the issues, but a forceful attempt to disrupt and intimidate. Imagine for a moment, you are a resident of Area 4 and you get a knock on the door on a Saturday morning, three teachers introduce themselves, then suddenly another man starts yelling over their voices that they are telling lies. The resident would undoubtedly be confused, perhaps scared and most likely not want to get involved.
Is this what we want to put our district families through? Is this behavior from Michael Allman proper for a leader of a district of thousands of children?
We made this point to Mr. Allman: that it appeared his intention was disruption and intimidation, not debate, and he remained silent at this suggestion, again looking past us.
At this point the Allmans said, “You know who we are, who are you?” As we were acting in our legal, constitutional and moral right, with nothing to be ashamed of, or hide, we shared our names and Michael Allman wrote them down. As an employee of the district, dealing with such a person as Michael Allman, this is very concerning. Why does he need our names? Is he going to target us in some way? Is he going to cut funding to programs we work in? Is he going to attempt to search all of our emails with a FOIA request (as he has done to others)? Is he going to attempt to have us terminated for political reasons?
We are concerned that this is creating an unsafe working environment. How can we trust decisions made by the board when a board member acts this way? If district employees no longer trust the board, what effect does that have on morale, on teamwork, on the effectiveness of this incredibly important work we do in helping to educate our community’s children?
We decided to knock on our first door to see what the Allmans would do. Even though there were three of us in a narrow entryway, Mr. Allman squeezed past Laura Bennett and Ruth Magnuson to stand shoulder to shoulder with Rob Ross at the door. He appeared ready to begin his “defense” the moment the door was opened, so again, showing his intention to disrupt and intimidate, not debate.
Luckily, the resident was either not home, or chose not to answer the door with five people standing outside. We thought better of putting residents through whatever Mr. Allman had planned to do or say, and returned to Solana Highlands Park where we had organized earlier that morning. The Allmans followed us back to the park in their car, and waited while we decided what to do next.
Eventually, we decided to go out again and the Allmans followed us and other teachers for the next two hours. We decided not to put any residents through the Allmans’ antics, so we let them follow us as we walked around, hoping other colleagues out canvassing would be able to engage with residents unmolested. One retired teacher with us later called the police and reported feeling intimidated by the Allmans following her everywhere she went.
As district employees and as citizens, we have never experienced anything like this. It was clear through all of our interactions that Mr. Allman’s intention was to disrupt and to intimidate, both us and any resident who might wish to sign the petition to recall him. We believe this is improper, goes against district bylaws governing the comportment and behavior of board members and could lead to more dangerous outcomes if Mr. Allman and his supporters continue on this path.
We implore you to please act, as is your responsibility, to reign in the behavior of Mr. Allman.
School is starting very soon and we look forward to getting back to the classroom to do the work we love more than anything, helping kids grow and succeed. All we ask of you, and the school board, is to help create a “safe, supportive, inclusive” and “normal” environment in which to do that important work.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Rob Ross SDA Teacher
Laura Bennett SDA Teacher
Ruth Magnuson SDA Teacher