Akron Superintendent Michael Robinson is accused of yelling at staff and using derogatory language in a letter sent to the school board.
AKRON, Ohio — Akron Public Schools Superintendent Michael Robinson is facing allegations of unprofessional and hostile behavior, according to a letter obtained by 3News.
The letter, written by the district’s former communications director, was sent to the Akron Board of Education. It accuses Robinson of abusive conduct, including yelling at employees in front of large groups.
The letter also claims Robinson called two female media members a derogatory term during a closed district meeting.
Akron Public Schools has not responded to requests for comment or additional information regarding the allegations.
On Monday, Akron Education Association President Pat Shipe did speak with 3News’ Kaitor Kay on the allegations raised in the letter.
“It is well known down at the board office that when he’s (Robinson) screaming, you can hear him on other floors of the building. That’s aggressive. That’s aggressive bullying and intimidation and that is an absolute toxic work environment,” Shipe said.
AEA Attorney Don Malarcik also responded to the allegations of Robinson calling female reporters derogatory terms.
“It’s shocking and it is appalling that we have to go on camera and talk about this misogynistic, sexist, slanderous terms that our superintendent is using towards women that are just simply doing their job,” he said. “It’s intolerable, it’s toxic, and it has to stop.”
Nearly two weeks ago, the Akron Public Schools Board of Education announced that it had retained an outside firm to investigate Robinson and other administrators amid misconduct allegations. Shipe and the AEA accused Robinson of public mismanagement, fiscal irresponsibility, and legal obstruction earlier this month.
“We believe Dr. Robinson’s admitted tampering with public email records — sending emails that disappear under his control in an attempt to manage ‘sensitive’ topics — is a clear violation of Ohio public records laws,” the AEA added in its Dec. 9 statement.
The announcement came after the Akron Beacon Journal ran a story revealing Robinson and his chief of staff have been utilizing a “confidential mode” in Gmail that causes certain emails sent to staff members to automatically “dissolve” after a certain amount of time. Recipients of these messages can also not “forward, copy, print or download” them.
Akron Public Schools later gave a statement to the newspaper, saying records of the “confidential” emails do not get destroyed and that “records of their existence and content are retained within the district’s email system.”
3News’ Dave DeNatale contributed to this report.