GRPS employees allege retaliation, toxic environment under district chief of staff

Katherine Stacey, who works in the administrative office at a Grand Rapids Public Schools high school, has spent the last two years trying to avoid Larry Johnson, the district’s chief of staff and executive director of public safety and school security.

Once a student data services employee in GRPS’s administrative building, Stacey took a $25,000 pay cut for a position that allows for less oversight and contact with Johnson. She submitted doctors’ notes to the district that say contact with him would worsen her panic attacks, anxiety and depression.

The recent departure of former communications director Leon Hendrix — who left his position last month after accusing the district superintendent of retaliation — has sparked campaigns for transparency and change within GRPS.

Interviews and public records requests show that Hendrix and Stacey weren’t alone in having concerns about district leadership, particularly Johnson.

“You can't cross Larry,” Stacey said. “If you get on his bad side, he's going to make it bad for you.”

Stacey says her worries began after Johnson got angry with her during a meeting in August 2022.

Johnson blamed Stacey for giving him an incorrect statistic about the district’s enrollment — something Stacey denies she did. He continued to scream at her even after she started crying, she said.

“I have never in my life been treated like I was treated by him,” Stacey said. The experience caused panic attacks and temporarily sent her to Pine Rest, a local psychiatric hospital, she said.

She filed a complaint with human resources the following day. Though an outside investigation would later determine it was an “isolated incident,” the district granted an accommodation for Stacey that would limit her interactions with Johnson. She says he continually broke it.

In a statement, GRPS said the district “will work diligently to address areas needing improvement and usher in the changes necessary to foster a more vibrant and inclusive environment as we Reimagine GRPS together.”

“We recognize that there is work ahead of us to improve the culture within GRPS,” wrote GRPS spokesperson Luke Stier. “We believe that our leadership team can drive meaningful and positive transformation. During the 2023-24 school year, we introduced new avenues for staff to share direct feedback with district leaders. This year, we are committed to enhancing these opportunities to ensure even greater collaboration and input.”

The Rapidian requested an interview with Johnson, but Stier stated that Johnson, like all GRPS staff, is not permitted to speak with the media about personnel matters.

In January 2023, as Stacey was finishing the final days at the administrative building before transitioning into her new role at the high school, she suddenly lost access to her email account and the software she uses for work, she said.

A few days later, she filed a complaint alleging Johnson purposefully removed her access to the platforms as retaliation for her previous complaint in August 2022.

An outside investigation found “insufficient evidence” to support the claim, according to a report shared with The Rapidian. Johnson also denied removing Stacey from her Microsoft teams account, saying he had “no knowledge of this,” according to an email exchange between administrators obtained via public records request.

But GRPS Management Information Systems Director Craig Ghareeb “very reluctantly” admitted that Johnson instructed him to terminate Stacey's email access, according to an email exchange between Assistant Superintendent of HR & General Counsel Anya Lusk and MaryJo Banasik, an attorney at Thrun Law, which represents school districts across Michigan.

Johnson wrote that he was “tired of this back and forth,” and was preparing to file harassment charges against Stacey for her repeated complaints against him, according to an email he sent to the district’s human resources department.

Stacey is just one of several administrative employees who have changed positions or left GRPS altogether after claiming the district’s top leadership retaliated against them.

Johnson often meets difficult questions and staff concerns with defensiveness, “or he just cuts off communication altogether,” said former Director of Student Health Services Kimberly Baron.

When Baron had questions about the district’s emergency protocol following the May 21 shooting between two students at the Alger Park Splash Pad, which is on the same block as Alger Middle School, she said Johnson initially agreed to a conversation but stopped responding after she requested a meeting.

Top GRPS administrators like Johnson “lead from a place of fear and intimidation,” Baron said.

Alongside Baron, who resigned earlier this month to take a job at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Lusk and Executive Director of Curriculum and Professional Learning Erich Harmsen have also left GRPS this year.

Their departures were due, in part, to the hostile environment within the district, WOOD TV 8 reported.

Concerns over a “toxic work environment” also plagued Ron Gorman, formerly GRPS’s deputy superintendent, according to records.

In 2021, about a year before taking a position as the assistant superintendent of instructional services at Kent ISD, Gorman wrote a letter to Roby, obtained by The Rapidian through a public records request, saying he thought Johnson and another administrator, Executive Director of PK-12 Instructional Leadership Bridget Cheney, were trying to get him fired.

A parent advised Gorman that administrative employees he had been “having disagreements with” at the time were “out to get [him],” and that his staff had started documenting their interactions with him, Gorman wrote.

Gorman concluded that Johnson and Cheney were trying to get him terminated.

“Although I cannot prove this with 100% certainty, I believe I have enough information to make a reasonable inference,” Gorman wrote. “I hope I'm wrong.”

“I, like all employees, deserve to work in an environment where I am not in fear of losing my position,” Gorman continued. “I have a 24-year track record of being collegial, empathetic, trustworthy and a servant leader. I am the first person to say sorry when I make a mistake, and I am reflective when I have a challenging interaction with a colleague. I cannot effectively lead my colleagues in a toxic work environment.”

Roby responded, thanking Gorman for sharing his concerns and offering to sit down with him, Johnson and Cheney. 

It’s unclear whether they did. A spokesperson said Gorman — who was named Kent ISD’s superintendent in March — was unavailable for an interview, as he was “very busy preparing for the start of the school year.”

“Dr. Gorman proudly and happily served Grand Rapids Public Schools for 25 years,” Joy Walczak, communications specialist for Kent ISD, wrote in a statement. “In 2022, a position at Kent ISD became available. It was an amazing opportunity to serve all students and educators across our area and he couldn’t pass it up.”