The following is an open letter to the members of the Highlands Community

Charter and Technical Schools board:

My name is Lindsay Curtis and up until last month I was the Homeless Services
Coordinator for Highlands and CICA, a role that I created and developed starting in
2016. I’ve presented to this board many times over the years on the clothing
closets, eyeglasses program, backpack events, and potential housing programs. I
consider it an honor to have helped this school grow and meet the needs of its most
unserved students.

However, it doesn’t take long working at Highlands to see the dysfunction and
toxicity that pervades the culture from the top down. A common charge often
leveled at charter schools is that the lack of oversight and regulations can lead to an
abuse of funds and zero protection for staff, and unfortunately that’s exactly what I
saw during my 7 years here. At Highlands you can keep your mouth shut and “play
the game,” you can get fired, or you can leave. In my case, “leaving” meant being
pushed out. I was told in mid-June that my position was being eliminated as of July
1st, and that I could go back to being a teacher if I wanted. Highlands eliminated,
without explanation, the school’s only homeless services role even with more than
1,500 students experiencing homelessness and having just made a documentary
video highlighting the services I helped provide and paying $300,000 to an outside
production company for that video. All while I was never given any budget over the
years to help students experiencing homelessness. Highlands doesn’t tell you why
they’re firing or “restructuring” you, but my guess is I was too vocal or wasn’t
agreeable enough. What I do know is that the culture is cult-like, the quality of
education doesn’t get near enough respect, attention, or resources from upper
management, and the spending is often exorbitant and irresponsible.

Highlands has hundreds of talented and educated supervisors, teachers, and other
staff, but their expert voices are never heard because from what I’ve experienced
Doc has fostered an unhealthy, directive-only environment where folks are unable
or unwilling to disagree with him in any substantial way to improve conditions and
the quality of student education.

We recently lost an excellent colleague, Maryna, who passed away last month. I
knew Maryna from graduate school before Highlands, but we grew closer in 2018
when she called me in a panic because Highlands was going to fire her. Maryna
had preexisting health conditions and her doctor told her bluntly to reduce her
workload or it would kill her. She asked Highlands if she could reduce her hours,
which was allowed for others, but was told “We hired you for 8 hours. You work 8
or you work 0.” So she rallied me and her students and we all showed up at that
firing meeting to support her. I like to think that led to her not getting fired that day
and getting her schedule changed to something that worked better for her, a teacher
who was loved and who *loved* Highlands. I like to think I’m reading this letter in
the fighting spirit of Maryna, who believed in collective action but who also
believed in the potential of this school, as do I.

If you’re thinking that this isn’t the appropriate way to voice these concerns, which
you might also be thinking more over the coming months, that’s understandable.
However, this should tell you that there needs to be a way to do so. When Doc
receives a copy of every email with two or more recipients, when he is included on
the HR email, and when there is a culture of mistrust, then there is no path for staff
to report issues in a truly confidential way, and problems persist and fester.

As my last point, I would say Highlands has a wonderful opportunity to meet a vital
community need at this point in time, which is why I stayed for as long as I did.
However, to continue to grow into greatness, I would strongly encourage any plan
for Highlands’ future to include slowing down on the frenetic expansion model,
focusing on the quality of education, putting dollars where they actually need to
be, and getting a CEO that understands and values education and who doesn’t
cultivate a culture of fear, bullying, and abuse of power.

Public funding should be used with care and in the places needed the most at
Highlands—to educate students well and give the staff everything they need to be
successful, including a voice and mutual respect. Thank you for your time.