Ross Willick worked in the Kenowa Hills school district west of Grand Rapids for 14 years. During that period he had been a principal, athletic director, and the kind of leader that parents say caused people to not only stay in the district but, in some cases, move into the district.
Yesterday a leftist female-majority school district board fired him on a vote of 6-1 after listening to Willick for a mere 20 minutes.
Willick noted that in 14 years working for the district, he didn't have a single instance of discipline or complaint filed about him. Every single one of his performance ratings was outstanding.
Nearly 100 parents who attended the board's meeting prior to the termination hearing, and many of the same group who attended Tuesday's termination hearing, all gave 'public comment' in favor of Willick. They gave touching stories of how Willick helped boys and girls, mentored new teachers, and made 'special needs' students feel welcomed and valued.
Local parent Doug Mauer said outside the board meeting, "This process is unfair, and they were just looking for a reason to fire him. They had to do an about-face because all of their prior reasons haven't held up. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Ross."
Another parent described the process of the board firing Willick as "an absolute sham."
Their comments made no impression on the board members committed to firing Willick.
Praise from parents wasn't enough for the leftist 'Karens' who recently seized power in this formerly conservative bastion. Parents told the Populist Sentinel that the recent departure of the prior Superintendent Jerry Hopkins over the summer was the beginning of these leftist ideological changes to the district.
And the goal, parents say, is a radical transformation of this suburban school district. During Willick's termination hearing, the school district's attorney said that a 'strength training' class was discrimination against girls because too many boys were in the program in one particular period: the earliest one of the school day.
Because too many boys were enrolled in the 1st period weightlifting class, despite girls being enrolled throughout the rest of the day, the district said was enough reason on its own to fire Willick for cause.
Willick protested saying he wasn't the one in charge of scheduling students, but his arguments fell on deaf ears. Willick provided a several page defense of the charges against him, which the Kenowa Hills board did not respond to.
Local parent Dave Tutas, who says he has known Willick for 20 years, described the process as a 'travesty' and said Willick was the board's 'scapegoat' for the ideological changes they were pursuing.
In his final statements to the board, Willick noted that this all represents a wider 'war on boys' where football programs are now political targets for destruction by politically-minded boards.
The board has been previously caught admitting in private recently that one of their goals is to make departments "all-female" in leadership.
The board had hired a DEI officer for the district in March 2021, but renamed the position as "School Support" recently in order to continue the far-left position under a new name with less scrutiny.
