Former principal claims he was fired for bonus system that awarded achievement

A former principal for the Marty Indian High School is suing the school board, alleging he was wrongfully terminated after devising a system that rewarded higher performing educators.

Timothy Stathis previously sued the district in state court, but the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled the state courts didn’t have jurisdiction because it involved tribal issues.

So now Stathis has filed a new suit in federal court.

Stathis was given a one-year contract as principal for the high school for the 2017, 2018 school year. Part of his duties included the management of grant funds from the Bureau of Indian Education.

One grant, according to the lawsuit, was intended to reward staff with bonus pay based on their performance, so Stathis developed a system to award larger bonuses for higher performing educators.

But that pay-for-performance system wasn’t popular.

“Multiple lower performing employees of the defendant objected to the aforementioned system designed by plaintiff and felt that the aforementioned grant funds should be utilized to provide equal bonuses to all employees of defendant, irrespective of high or low performance,” the lawsuit says.

The controversy continued to escalate, leaking into the community. On Nov. 15, 2017, staff and members of the community staged an hours-long sit-in demonstration in the school library. That prompted a school board executive session, and the next day Stathis was notified that he was being suspended without pay for 10 days.

On Dec. 1, Stathis says he learned he was going to be terminated. Initially he was told that his contract would be paid out. On Dec. 12 he met with the superintendent to turn in school property and to receive his settlement check. Shortly after he got his check, the superintendent received a call from a board member who demanded that he return the check or that a stop payment order would be placed on the check, rendering it worthless. Stathis says that he returned the check and was then escorted out of the school by tribal police.

Stathis eventually found a new job in California, his complaint said.

John Beheler, the district superintendent, did not return an email seeking comment.