PMS asst. principal found ‘Smokin’ in the boys’ room’
BROOKSVILLE : The 1970s Brownsville Station song “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” famously portrayed students sneaking into a restroom to smoke cigarettes — while hoping they’re not caught by school administrators or teachers.
But the roles were reversed at Powell Middle School when two students discovered Assistant Principal Royce Green was the one lighting up in the restroom — and had been doing so since the beginning of the school year, according to school district investigation documents.
Green’s smoking was a well-known secret among some school staff members. William Reese, a PMS custodian, wrote that students assigned as Campus Police had asked him for months as to who was responsible for smoking in one of the bathrooms.
Again and again, he told them not to worry about it. However, the students’ persistence paid off and Reese eventually told them the truth.
“The ‘micro cops’ must have asked me over a 100 times in the past three months who was smoking in the bathroom. All year I told them not to worry about this as it wasn’t a student,” Reese wrote. “Finally after three months of questions from the ‘micro cops,’ I got tired of their questions and told them Mr. Green was smoking in the restroom, which apparently was not the right thing to do.”
In a letter to district officials, PMS Principal Jamie Young indicated she didn’t know Green was smoking inside the school and said he had already been warned about smoking on campus after he was spotted doing so in the front parking lot.
“My concern is the message that is being sent to my staff and students when an administrator is insubordinate and not following the policies put in place,” Young wrote. “The idea that the ‘rules don’t apply to me’ cannot be tolerated. Great effort has been made to change this behavior and trust has been violated with learning he has been dishonest since the second week of school. Now students have been impacted by his decision not to follow the rules.”
Among his duties, Green is in charge of student disciplines, which include punishing students if they too are caught smoking on school campus.
Heather Martin, executive director of business services, pointed out to Green that it could pose a problem for him to punish students for violations if they know he is committing them himself.
Green was apologetic during his interview with Martin and said he knew it was wrong to smoke in the school restroom. He said he did so because the back gate leading to an approved smoking area is locked that early in the morning.
He added he would begin taking medication to quit smoking.
“Just make sure (Superintendent Bryan) Blavatt knows that I know what I did wasn’t very bright,” Green said. “To coin his phrase, it was stupid and the shoe fits.”
Green was suspended without pay for three days, which were Nov. 3, 8 and 9.
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