Ousted Hoonah superintendent seeks damages in Alaska district court

Part of the city of Hoonah's waterfront is seen in a 2012 photo. (Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development; Division of Community and Regional Affairs’ Community Photo Library)

The former Hoonah City School District superintendent has filed a complaint against the local school board over a conflict with its president that allegedly led to the superintendent’s dismissal.

In court filings , former Superintendent Helen Cheek claims that school board President Harold Houston “continually overstepped the legal constraints of his authority over the Hoonah District.”

The complaint details a scenario wherein Houston sought to influence personnel matters and daily school management. Court filings allege he made multiple efforts to access confidential information about school employees, entered the school to tell teachers how to teach and asked the district’s finance manager to complete work for him.

Cheek is seeking damages in the amount of the wages and benefits of her unfinished three-year contract, emotional distress, damage to her professional reputation and attorney’s fees. She had not completed the first year of her contract when she was fired by the board; the job listing shows her salary would have been in the range of $100,000-$115,000 a year.

“Despite the allegation that the termination was without cause, Plaintiff Cheek firmly believes that the termination was directly and proximately caused by her exercise of her First Amendment right to object to Mr. Houston’s conduct that violated public policy, state law and the school board policies,” the complaint said.

The Hoonah City School District board has not yet answered the complaint with Alaska’s District Court and neither the board nor Cheek’s attorney’s office responded to a request for comment.

Houston’s alleged efforts to influence the daily operations of the district manifested in three to four unscheduled meetings with Cheek each week and unannounced visits to the school while she was away, court filings say. After Cheek set boundaries to prohibit that behavior, he refused to speak with her at board meetings and, within a month, she was fired by the board, the complaint says.

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