School leaders decide fate of ex-Lake Worth Middle principal after racist parking lot video

Palm Beach County school leaders have suspended the former Lake Worth Middle School principal after a video surfaced of him yelling racial slurs at a woman in the school's parking lot.

Michael Williams, 52, appeared to say the N-word to the woman and call her a “Hispanic b****” after a minor traffic collision in March.

The board chose to suspend him for 10 days despite one board member who wanted to fire him.

Williams spoke to the board Wednesday night and presented a different accounting of what happened that day. He said the woman and family members in her car hit his car at 10th Avenue N and Detroit Street. He said he pulled his car behind Lake Worth Middle School to exchange insurance information and call the police. The woman in the car approached him and yelled, "You are a Black N-word," he said.

"I reacted with emotion. Look at me. I don’t need profanity to defend myself. Why did I? In our country there is no more racially charged, incendiary term, than the N-word," he said. "I do understand that my reaction was inappropriate, but the media and our community rushed to judgment."

More: Lake Worth Middle principal 'shuffled' into new job after racist parking lot confrontation

Last week, board members voted to reassign Williams to another principal job at one of the district's alternative education schools, where students are assigned when they struggle to succeed in either comprehensive or traditional schools. They appointed Caelethia Taylor as the new permanent principal at Lake Worth Middle.

But the fact that Williams will have a job at all disturbed at least one school board member, who tried to make the case to fire him.

"A private citizen and a school principal are held to different standards," said Alexandria Ayala, adding that "it’s disgusting and offensive to call a private citizen a 'Hispanic b-word' on school campus."

After board member Edwin Ferguson reviewed the video and a report from the district's inspector general, he said he believes the woman in the video "goaded" Williams into an emotional reaction.

Ferguson said people like him and Williams, who are both Black men over six feet tall, are often perceived as aggressive because of their race and size.

"There has to be some consequence for this. Termination is definitely not that," he said of Williams' reaction. "We cannot fire him for something that he didn’t start."

Do Palm Beach County schools 'shuffle' around employees with bad behavior?

Questions of equity and how the district handles employees who act inappropriately have swirled around Williams' case and other recent changes in the district.

"The district is accustomed to a culture where when folks do something they shouldn't do, they get just shuffled around. I'm not going to sit by and stand for that," Ayala said June 7. "This is an individual who is a principal, somebody who should be held to a higher standard than, frankly, a lot of us, because they see children and families every single day and serve them."

Ayala referred to a common practice in the school district where employees are reassigned to non-student contact positions while they're being investigated for inappropriate conduct.

This year, Watson B. Duncan Middle Principal Phillip D'Amico was also temporarily reassigned after he was arrested and charged with domestic violence toward his wife, Barbara. The charges were dropped two weeks later, and D'Amico returned to campus as principal June 5.

More: Two longtime Palm Beach County principals removed from the job, replaced. What happened?

Ferguson used D'Amico's case to justify his vote to suspend and not terminate Williams.

"Just as a matter of equity, we can't fire Mr. Williams because I believe there was a principal who allegedly placed hands on his wife," he said. "Now I know the criminal charges were dismissed, but ... you can look at the reports for yourself to make a determination as to whether you want to endorse that person being a leader of a school."

Teachers and administrators are regularly reassigned to non-student contact positions in the district's transportation office, business department or charter school office after alleged misconduct.

Video: Principal told woman he won't pay for a 'm*****f****** thing'

The school district began its investigation of Williams on March 27 after officials became aware of the video, according to the district report.

A woman in the car who is taking the video tells Williams that he has to pay to fix her car, to which he responds that he’s not going to pay for a “m*****f****** thing.” The woman was not identified.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office had no report of the collision.

In a letter recommending Williams' suspension, Superintendent Mike Burke said Williams violated several ethical guidelines for educators by using racist language toward a private citizen on school grounds and failing to exercise good professional judgment. Burke said the district's investigation substantiated those claims.

If Williams serves the suspension, he will return as a principal in an alternative education school starting Aug. 2. It's not yet clear where Williams will work. School starts Aug. 10.

Ayala lamented his new position. She said students who are placed in alternative education programs for behavioral issues or involvement in the criminal justice system shouldn't have to come in contact with principals who behave inappropriately elsewhere.

Williams had served as the principal at Lake Worth Middle since 2015.

Williams served as the principal at Lake Worth Middle from 2015 until March.

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lake Worth Middle principal Michael Williams suspended, reassigned