In wealthy Delco district, schools chief under fire
On the second day of school, the superintendent was welcoming students back to their classrooms when he was taken aback by one boy's greeting. "My parents want you fired," the boy said.
On the second day of school, the superintendent was welcoming students back to their classrooms when he was taken aback by one boy's greeting. "My parents want you fired," the boy said.
James Wigo, head of the Rose Tree Media School District, tall and with a shaved head, pointed his finger at the student and "aggressively and loudly" told him to sit down and be quiet, according to his mother. Wigo threatened to send the boy to the principal's office and promised he would be back at the school day after day to keep an eye on him.
The pupil who drew Wigo's wrath is 6. He is starting first grade at Indian Lane Elementary School. His mother, Nancy Nicely, said her once "bubbly" and "outgoing" son now feels "scared, threatened, intimidated."
In a letter to Rose Tree Media school board members, Nicely accused Wigo of being a bully.
In what has been a rough period for school superintendents, the episode is one of a series of incidents that has embroiled Wigo in controversy in one of the region's wealthiest and higher-achieving school districts.
Several districts have new chiefs this year, and experts cite a variety of reasons for superintendent turnover: pressure to increase academic performance, fiscal crises, and new issues such as cyberbullying.
But the Rose Tree case appears to stand out.
Wigo, who has run the district since 2011 and signed a new five-year contract in July, now is in the midst of a school board performance review. The issue could come to a head as early as the next board meeting, on Thursday.
Ironically, in his tumultuous effort earlier this year to oust former Indian Lane principal Bill Bennett, Wigo cited Bennett's temper tantrums. That led the district to sever ties with the popular principal in a $300,000 agreement and spurred the launch of the RTM Strong group.
Wigo, 64, who is paid $205,000 a year, said he couldn't discuss a "student matter" and hung up when asked to comment. He did not answer subsequent emails.
William O'Donnell, acting Rose Tree Media school board president, said, "I think all of his interactions are going into his review, and we're engaging in that process currently." Regarding the complaints about Wigo's temperament, O'Donnell said that "the board takes everything very seriously" and was discussing them with its attorneys.
Wigo's tenure has been marked by controversy. He had been on the job only a year when the man he hired as principal at the Springton Lake Middle School was arrested for possessing child pornography.
Earlier this year, hundreds signed a petition that sought Wigo's firing, citing his abrasive manner and hiring choices. Now, RTM Strong activists are asking whether the board failed to investigate why Wigo departed as principal of Academy Park High School in the Southeast Delco School District in 1995.
At the time, the Delaware County Daily Times reported that the Southeast Delco board reached a confidential settlement with Wigo over undisclosed issues and paid him $75,000 in severance.
Before moving to Rose Tree, he was an assistant superintendent in the Upper Darby School District.
In the recent incident, Nicely said her son, whom she described as "precocious," said, " 'Oh, you're Mr. Wigo. My parents want you to be fired.' "
Then, the boy said, "I'm gonna pour pancake syrup on your head." She said the "unfiltered 6-year-old comments" inspired Wigo's finger pointing and outburst.
"In other words, our school superintendent bullied our 6-year-old, who is not even old enough to understand what being 'fired' means," she wrote. Nicely said she was told what happened by the child's teacher, Karen Miele.
Other parents have come forward with stories about Wigo. Nancy Gleason of Middletown Township described an encounter in 2012 when her youngest child was a sixth grader at Springton Lake and she and her husband requested a meeting with administrators, including Wigo.
Gleason said Wigo "seemed uninterested and not paying attention. My husband said, 'Can you please give my wife respect and listen while she's talking?' He slammed his hand on the table and said, 'Yo!'
"My husband said, 'Don't "Yo" me!' "
She said the couple left the room and felt that Wigo was "very aggressive and disrespectful."
Liz Gorman, who worked for six years in Rose Tree Media's human resources department, said she was escorted to Wigo's office after emails critical of her department head were found on her computer.
"With his face about 3 inches from mine, he screamed at the top of his lungs and called me a disgrace, among other things," Gorman wrote in a letter to the board. "I was extremely frightened, I was shocked and terrified of such outrage, and I left his conference room trembling."
O'Donnell, the acting board president, said board members are weighing what to do about the body of complaints.
"The school board thinks about and talks about this every single day, seven days a week," he said. "All of my efforts are figuring out where to move forward from where we are today."
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@kathyboccella