Bad Example
School Principal Driving Drunk
By Daniel Muniz

Tonia Dillon, employed by the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio Texas as a principal for Stafford Elementary School, was driving drunk in her Jeep Wrangler late on a Friday night when she slammed into a car belonging to Veronica Salazar. Two witnesses, Israel Jayassi and Abiel Olvera, who also saw the accident offered aid to both women. Afterwards both men took away Dillon’s keys when it became apparent that she wanted to leave the scene of the accident.

When police showed up, the elementary school principal became belligerent with the officers as they took her down to the police station to be charged for drunk driving.

According to a news report:

Naturally, witnesses Jayassi and Olvera and the victim Salazar were dismayed by the elementary principal’s conduct and confrontational behavior. And so was Dillon’s employer. Her school district immediately placed her on paid administrative leave while they investigated the incident. Shortly afterwards, Dillon resigned before the superintendent of the district could make a decision about her position.

The obvious question here is what should a school district do about such incidents?

For most occupations, your conduct outside the workplace has no bearing on your employment as long as it doesn’t affect your job. Of course it is difficult to do your job if you are sitting in a jail cell. But other than that, should your behavior, even if it is dangerous and illegal, be taken into consideration as a basis for maintaining employment?

Now to tip my hat, I am a strong advocate for privacy although anything going through a court docket is not private but public information. People have their own personal responsibility on how they handle an event like this thus they have to exercise discretion about dealing with such an outcome. But as long as it doesn’t affect your job, then I personally feel that it should not matter all that much because everybody makes mistakes.

But here is my qualifier.

There are certain professions in which character and conduct does have a direct impact at your job, especially when your employment involves educating children or running a school. And working in the education field, especially in a leadership capacity or as a teacher, is one of those occupations.

Undoubtedly, it is embarrassing for an elementary school principal to be driving drunk and then smash into another car. It is also reprehensible for her to become hostile and abrasive to the very same police force that is out there in the community performing a difficult job in an effort to ensure everyone’s public safety.

It is not surprising at all for the public to expect someone involved in the leadership of our schools to behave in a more responsible manner, even while they are outside working hours. Driving drunk and cussing out police officers is not the good example that a school district looks for in mature employees that are supposed to be entrusted to influence our children with the universal values of responsibility, honesty, and integrity. In fact, it sets the wrong example.

Society not only desires that students leave the classroom with a good education but that there is also an implicit expectation that they will be encouraged to become responsible citizens who are accountable for their own actions. This awful conduct by such a leader in our school system is contrary to those aspirations. And that is why the public has the right to be appalled. We as taxpayers simply expect more out of certain public servants.

But is this expectation unrealistic?

Now that is a good question that is hard to answer.

Lewd and sexually explicit behavior is completely unacceptable around our children and schools should have a zero tolerance policy for it. But perhaps irresponsible behavior is at a different level of misconduct even at a school environment. And the reason I say this is because everybody does make mistakes and that is an important reality for school children to understand. If Dillon is apologetic and truly sorry for this incident, then perhaps it can be turned into a positive learning experience for her elementary school and for the school district. Perhaps she can explain to the student body the value of making the right choices in life.

I personally feel that a zero tolerance policy that is outside of lewd and sexually explicit behavior or any other serious crime is not a good approach. I don’t think a principal or a teacher should be immediately terminated while I don’t feel that they should escape any form of reprimand because their misconduct was done on their personal time. I just don’t like both extremes although there ought to be something done about this.

Perhaps school districts can find a “middle road” in situations like this.

Dillon’s behavior was reprehensible and she ought to be admonished for it since she is in a leadership role at a school. But if she wants to keep her job, she ought to explain to the student body, as well as to parents, that what she did was wrong and that is not acceptable behavior for responsible adults. Yes, there is a bit of morality in that which is what a lot of people find repugnant but her actions were clearly unacceptable.

And there is nothing wrong with kids (and parents) being told that as long as there is corrective action taken so that it doesn’t happen again. That too is something that children can also learn about since we do not live in a perfect world.

Unfortunately Dillon resigned before any decisions were made. However, this is a situation that will happen again somewhere else in another school district in another city.

And if anyone wants to pipe in with their comments, I will publish them here.

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