Fort Worth schools’ interim superintendent Walter Dansby said today that Doug Williams, the suspended principal at Dunbar High School who has been under an outside investigation for allegations of improper behavior toward male students there, will not be going back to Dunbar.
“We are going to reassign Mr. Williams to another position,” Dansby said. No decision has been made as to where Williams will be sent, but it will be in administration, according to district spokesperson Clint Bond. Williams did not return phone messages seeking comment.
Williams has admitted to pinching certain male athletes’ nipples as a “disciplinary measure” during the past two years and to taking pictures last year of other male athletes, posing them against a black drop cloth shirtless.
A press release from the district said that Dansby decided that the “leadership effectiveness of Mr. Williams has been compromised and the reassignment would be for the best interest of all parties involved.”
“This is good news,” said Ernest Mackey, a long-time Dunbar supporter whose kids and grandkids attended the school and who was one of the first to be told of the pinching episodes by a school employee. “This decision is in the best interest of the kids and the teachers at Dunbar,” he said. Mackey also said that Dansby should reassign Williams to a position where he will “never be in contact with children” and that Williams should resign.
“This is far from over,” Mackey said. “We need to know just what the investigators found, we need to know what the Office of Professional Standards found in their investigation, what the kids told them, if Child Protective Services was notified and when, all of that is information the public has a right to know,” he said. “Walter [Dansby] did the right thing, and I expect he will continue to do the right thing because he will be certain that our kids are fully protected.”
Julie Moody, spokesperson for CPS in Austin, confirmed today that that there is an active investigation by the agency into the allegations involving Williams, on behalf of the district. Moody said that the agency will turn over the results of its investigation to the district to determine if disciplinary action is called for.
