For Champaign elementary, 'there is no replacing' Rantoul-bound principal

Apr. 18—RANTOUL — A popular Unit 4 elementary principal whose future has been the subject of months of speculation has a new job.

At Thursday night's board meeting, Booker T. Washington STEM Academy Principal Jaime Roundtree was approved as Rantoul City Schools' director of curriculum and instruction, effective July 1.

"I've been ingrained in Unit 4 for a long time," Roundtree said Thursday, but "there was an instant bond with the leadership here."

Roundtree was one of six candidates to interview earlier this month for the job, a new position in the five-school elementary district.

He emerged from what Superintendent Scott Woods described as "a very strong pool of candidates" for his "significant experience in the area of elementary curriculum and instruction and significant experience in elementary leadership."

Roundtree has been part of Unit 4 elementaries since 2005, when he was hired as a South Side teacher. He went on to spend two years as an assistant principal at Bottenfield, two as principal at Barkstall, five as the district's director of elementary teaching and learning and five as principal at BTW.

He becomes the third Unit 4 elementary principal in the last month to land a new job, with the two others leaving after the school year for Urbana — Carrie Busey's Craig Keer to be the principal at Leal Elementary, Barkstall's Jessica Bradford to be District 116's director of curriculum and student learning.

Roundtree's loss "is going to be felt for years" in the district, BTW mom Shawna den Otter predicted Thursday night, adding: "The entire district has lost a visionary, thoughtful and strong leader. He was exactly who the kids at BTW needed and there is no replacing him.

"The truest loss is felt by the kids whose entire trajectory in life is now changed," she said. "People might think I'm overstating things or being dramatic but they created something special and transformative at BTW — a building full of the most amazing and some of the most vulnerable children. I wish him so well in his future and the families in Rantoul are very lucky."

The futures of Roundtree and BTW Assistant Principal Rebecca Ramey prompted social-media speculation, letters to the editor, T-shirts, public comment at board meetings and "Much love, B-T-Dub" rallies for much of the school year, following a frightening incident outside the school last September.

Police say two groups of adolescent males shot at each other just across the street, around 2:50 p.m. on a Thursday, while several BTW students were outside. None were physically harmed, but students and staff reported being terrified by the daylight shooting that involved at least five young males, some of whom were wearing masks.

At the next school board meeting, several distraught teachers expressed their fear at what happened, some of them openly criticizing administrators who failed to show up at the school that day or offer emotional support. Roundtree was among the BTW group that showed up for the meeting but didn't speak that night.

Ramey's spouse, a BTW teacher, did — and didn't hold back. Diana Kistler was particularly critical of Superintendent Shelia Boozer when it came her time to speak, saying in part: "I forgive you for blaming our admin team for pushing the wrong button. I forgive you for cc'ing me on an email tirade that I had no prior connection to and demanding that you not be contacted. I forgive you for gaslighting all of us here tonight instead of seeking to understand and finding solutions."

It was that speech which, months later, led to Ramey being told by district leadership that she was being transferred, she alleges in a complaint filed last month with the Illinois Department of Human Rights by Ron Langacker, the Urbana attorney hired to represent both Roundtree and Ramey in employment matters.

Unit 4 has "vehemently" denied "the accuracy of the information shared by Mr. Langacker" in a March 14 News-Gazette story about the complaint but declined to offer specifics "out of respect to our employees."

In a letter to Boozer, Langacker said the decision to transfer Ramey appeared "punitive and retaliatory," given that Ramey was told of it two days after he filed the complaint with the state.

Roundtree's involvement in the case dates back to October, according to Langacker's filing, when an investigation was opened into Ramey's alleged violation of district policy "regarding dispensing medication to students without an updated Student Medical Authorization form."

After an internal investigation into the matter, Roundtree recommended in a Nov. 19 memo that Ramey be given a written reprimand.

Ken Kleber, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources, "did not accept Roundtree's recommended discipline (and) instead gave (Ramey) a 5-day unpaid suspension," according to the complaint.

"I believe this punishment was excessive," Roundtree said in a declaration attached to the complaint. (He has referred all questions about the matter to Langacker).

After Kleber overruled his recommendation for a written reprimand, "Roundtree expressed his belief that the severity of (Ramey's) punishment was because of (her) sexual orientation" and that Unit 4 administration "sought to retaliate" against Ramey "after (Ramey's) wife, Ms. Kistler, spoke against the district administration" at the Sept. 26 meeting.

He criticized both the timing of the decision and how Wednesday's meeting ended, saying his client wasn't given the "option of allowing her to finish out the school year, while simultaneously being told that there is no guarantee of her future employment with the district."

While there was never a change in Roundtree's status with the district, according to his attorney, an "utterly devastated" Ramey was told she'd be transferred to Kenwood Elementary.

When, or whether, that will happen remains unknown. The school board — down two members and in a state of disarray itself — must sign off on all reassignments, resignations and terminations, which they typically do in a single vote packaged with other items.

Ramey's reassignment has yet to be included on the "HR changes" list given to board members.