Yore: Signature on evaluation forged

Outgoing Cape Henlopen High School Principal John Yore says someone tampered with his personnel file at the district office, and he charges someone placed an evaluation with a fraudulent signature in his folder. He wants to know why his signature was forged and who put the paper in his file.

Yore said he was in Nevada June 26, 2008, but his signature is on an evaluation and dated that same day.

Cape Superintendent George Stone said the document in question was destroyed at Yore’s request. He says the document that was destroyed bore live signatures. Asked to explain the discrepancy, Stone said, “As I was not the supervisor and as it was two years ago, I cannot speculate. I believe a principal’s meeting was held that day; possibly it was brought over. Again, all of these claims are based upon Mr. Yore’s contentions. We have no way to verify, debate or resolve these issues.”

Yore said the school board initially promised an investigation, but nothing has come of it.

“My discussions with the district office and the school board are going nowhere. I personally would have expected greater outrage and concern about such a breach and such a highly unethical action,” he said.

“This is an illegal, unethical action. I want to know the truth,” said Yore. He said he has consulted an attorney but has not gone to the police. He is exploring all his options, he said.

“This district will never reach even mediocrity if this kind of action at the highest level is condoned or even tolerated. You can’t reach greatness without integrity,” Yore said.

Yore said he went to the district office March 18, to review his personnel file. He said he found a copy of a summative 2008 evaluation in which he received an unsatisfactory rating.

He said it was the first unfavorable review he’s received in his career, and he had never before seen the document. “You remember those kinds of things, and I would have responded to that,” he said. Employees have the right to attach comments to documents in their personnel files if they disagree with them.

The document in his file bore Yore’s signature and the signature of district Supervisor of Secondary Education Bob Fulton. Yore said he never signed the evaluation or saw it until 2010.

Yore also said two favorable 2007 evaluations, conducted by Fulton and then-Assistant Superintendent Janis Hanwell, were missing from the file. In addition, he said there were no signatures noting anyone took anything out of the folder. After discovering the negative evaluation, Yore said he emailed Stone, Fulton and district Director of Human Resources Tim Buckmaster. In that email, Yore asked to have the two positive evaluations returned to his folder and the one he had never signed be removed.

Stone said the document was removed and destroyed according to procedure. “In all my years of dealing with personnel, removal means automatic destruction, protecting the employee by definition that the document never existed,” he said.

In an email to the Cape Gazette, Stone said the district has investigated Yore’s complaint and believes the document had live signatures. Because the document was destroyed, Stone said, there is no way to verify Yore’s claims.

Stone said Yore asked that certain documents be removed from his file. “Where we felt his request was justified, the documents were removed and destroyed, which is standard procedure for such an employee request,” Stone said. Later, Yore made accusations about the evaluation that can’t be substantiated because the document was destroyed, said Stone. “Had he believed the document was tampered with, he should have immediately notified someone for further investigation,” said Stone.

Stone asked the Cape Gazette to refrain from publishing the story. “At least have the decency to wait until after graduation to run it. Our kids and community have been through hell and back this year between Bradley and Ott and the murder; can’t you let us graduate them in peace?” he wrote in an email.

When he asked who had access to his file, Yore said he was given five names. He said he would not speculate on who might have altered the document.

Board President Camilla Conlon and Vice President Spencer Brittingham declined to comment on the matter. Board member Gary Wray said, when asked about Yore’s accusations, that he is interested in the district moving forward and focusing on positive changes, including a new high school principal and district superintendent. Board member Andy Lewis said he is aware of Yore’s complaints, but could not comment. Board member Esthelda Parker Selby said that she would not comment on the matter. She said it raises concerns, but she does not have all the facts she wants in order to make a comment.

Board members Noble Prettyman and Sara Wilkinson could not be reached at press time.

Yore said he had also never seen the Aug. 20, 2008 evaluation that called for an improvement plan. He said he signed the improvement plan because he was obligated to under board policy. But because he hadn’t seen the June 20, 2008 negative evaluation, he did not know there was a basis for an improvement plan. He said he thought the document he signed was a nonspecific list of areas that needed improvement.

Yore said Stone and Fulton told him in January he would not serve as principal of the high school for the 2010-11 school year. The school board voted to approve Yore’s reassignment to associate principal March 26, but Yore announced to faculty and students in January that he had been reassigned. “I didn’t want faculty, parents or students to hear about this second hand and through rumors. That’s not the way I operate,” Yore said. “I thought they had a right to hear it from me.”

He said his complaints about his file are unrelated to his reassignment. “As an administrator, I work at the pleasure of the superintendent and the board. I accepted my reassignment at face value,” he said.

Stone’s last day as superintendent in Cape is June 1. He has taken a job as superintendent of a Shrub Oak, N.Y. school district.

Yore’s last day at Cape will be Wednesday, June 30. He has taken a job as principal of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Md.

He started looking for another position around the same time as he found the questioned document. “At that time, for my own sanity, I needed to explore what options exist out there for our family,” he said.

Yore said he leaves Cape with mixed feelings. “We didn’t move here to move away,” he said.

Yore said the Cape community has been good to him and his family, and he hopes his family is always considered a part of it.

He said he feels betrayed and violated because of the forgery. Yore said he still wants to work within the district to find answers. “I’m just asking for someone to do the right thing,” he said.