Report: Principal bullied workers, had some run personal errands for her

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga — DeKalb school officials have been transferred, but have not been fired after an internal investigation which concluded a high school principal bullied and harassed subordinates and even had some of them do work at her home.

There are also documented irregularities with money and some allegations that weren’t even investigated.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Richard Belcher obtained the report on Margie Smith through the Georgia Open Records Act.

The internal report prepared by the school system is highly critical of Smith on several counts, but it makes no mention of an allegation that Smith had a habit of borrowing money from subordinates at the Alternative School where she was principal until she was transferred last August.

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The report concludes with recommendations that Smith be removed as principal of the school, be reassigned to a non-school setting and undergo extensive leadership training. It also recommends that Smith repay staff members some $709 that Smith collected to pay for school shirts. When the shirts were not acceptable, the investigation concluded, Smith got a refund from the company but didn’t return the money to her subordinates.

The report says several staff members, some named and some not named in the report say they went to the principal’s house “during and after work hours.” to perform chores for Smith. Two cited a fear of retaliation if they didn’t go. One said she changed the air filter in Smith’s attic and picked up the principal’s medication from the store.

That’s all in the report, but Investigator Kawanna Findlay did not specify the personal errands as violations of school policy.

“That is taxpayers’ money being used to do personal work at an employee’s house. That should be illegal,” said Joel Edwards, who follows the district closely in his role with the good government group Restore DeKalb.

He told Channel 2 Action News reading about employees’ fear of retaliation by Margie Smith was no surprise. “That is a cancer that has been developed in DeKalb County,” Edwards said.

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Findlay’s report makes no mention of another accusation, which we know was sent to school authorities a year ago. In a June 2021 email to district officials, Dr. Lerlean Edwards told school officials that Smith borrowed hundreds of dollars from subordinates at the Alternative School. Dr. Johnson’s initial complaint triggered the investigation in March 2021. It’s not clear why Findlay didn’t deal with the loan allegation in her report.

Joel Edwards notes that principals almost always make more than their subordinates, “so to borrow money from an employee or subordinate, should be illegal.”

Edwards says the drip, drip of turmoil and scandal is an embarrassment to the school system.

He told Channel 2 Action News, “It’s not in the interests of the children and the stakeholders in DeKalb County.”

A district spokesman emailed today that Smith is now assigned as a Title One coordinator. Title One is a federal program that sends additional money to schools with a high percentage of students who come from lower-income families.

Smith’s 2021 salary as principal of the alternative school was listed on a state website as $146,441. The district said today her salary is now $111,668. That’s a 24% pay cut.

We texted Margie Smith, but she has not responded.

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