Harassment complaints against Vikki Bauer have cost Harper Creek

Noe Hernandez | Battle Creek Enquirer

The way Theresa Kerr reported it, on the day Vikki Bauer gave her the finger, she was driving a school bus full of children.

On March 20, 2014, Kerr wrote in a letter to former Superintendent John Severson, she was driving on E. Drive North when Bauer, a member of the Harper Creek school board, "was driving toward my bus and (proceeded) to give me the middle finger on her right hand as she passed by," she wrote.

The district paid nearly $5,000 to investigate the incident.

More: Bauer removed as Harper Creek board president

Since 2012, the Board of Education has authorized $16,500-plus in payments to attorneys related to harassment complaints and investigations involving Bauer, according to district records obtained by the Battle Creek Enquirer, more than $10,500 of that this year alone.

The complaints have come from the district's athletic director, two school bus drivers and a former Harper Creek Education Association co-president.

The records don't speak to the resolution of the complaints, though Bauer's colleagues on the board did censure her in April for speaking to Emmett Township officials on their behalf without the full board's consent and in May for sharing sensitive information regarding a complaint from Athletic Director Ed Greenman with the public.

Bauer declined to comment on the complaints or the payments.

Board President Tim Martin, emphasizing that he was speaking only for himself, said the past five months have been a tumultuous time for the board and community.

"We had a healthy conversation at our last board meeting with nearly 90 minutes of public comments regarding board member behaviors and legal fees," he said. "It is unfortunate that this pattern exists and that it happened at all. However, we are hopeful our healthy discussion brought things into perspective and we can move forward."

The first sign of trouble

Bauer's troubles with district employees and others seem to have surfaced less than a year after voters elected her to the board in May 2011.

In April 2012, Laura Swain, who was then the Harper Creek Education Association's co-president, filed a harassment complaint saying she "felt bullied" by Bauer "due to her demeanor when she was speaking to me" during a school board meeting over an incident at Beadle Lake Elementary School.

"While she was accosting me, she continued to move in on my personal space," Swain stated. "She was also speaking loudly and her face was angry.

"It was clear she wanted to express herself, but did not want to have a meaningful conversation about what took place in Beadle Lake's office," she added. "She did not want to hear my point of view as union co-president; she just wanted to let me have it."

Cindy Fredenburg, a special education teacher and witness to the counter, supported Swain's version of events in a letter she sent to the district.

More: Harper Creek board censures Bauer a second time

"It is important to note that Ms. Bauer is in a position of power in relation to employees that observed the apparent intimidating behavior," Fredenberg stated.

Fredenburg wrote that, in light of an incident that occurred in the office at Beadle Lake Elementary, which she does not describe, "this behavior directed towards Ms. Swain appears to be even more of a threat."

2017

Bauer was elected to another six-year term in November. Board members removed her as their president in March and censured her in April for speaking to Emmett Township officials without the full board's consent.

The board then publicly reprimanded Bauer a second time on May 25 for sharing with the public information about Greenman's complaint that it had only discussed in closed session.

The second censure stemmed from a story published in the Enquirer on May 9 in which Bauer mentioned Greenman by name and said he felt harassed and threatened by her after a potential Title IX violation surfaced during a February board meeting.

The board had discussed neither the Title IX issue nor Greenman’s name in public. Title IX is the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in education, including in sports.

Greenman complained three times to Ridgeway via email about Bauer’s behavior before the board took action.

“I hate to say it but in 32 years I have never been anxious about coming to work or looking over my shoulder worried that somebody has it out for me,” he said in a Feb. 27 email. “I feel, and have heard from community members, that Vikki is after me and wants me dismissed from my position.

“I feel she is trying to tarnish my reputation, ruin my relationship with you, and plant seeds of doubt in your mind, the communities mind, the fellow board members minds, and convince everyone that I am not an effective leader for the Harper Creek school district.”

In a March 30 email, Greenman described what he considered Bauer’s further attempts to discredit him.

According to the email, Bauer talked with varsity tennis coach Brian Herr and junior varsity tennis coach Dave Hudson about a canceled tennis match. Herr, according to the email, felt Bauer was trying to come up with something to “get” Greenman.

The email said Hudson later told Greenman that Bauer “went off” about the canceled match and was mad at Greenman for canceling the match without consulting the coaches. Greenman explained the reason for the cancellation.

“At one point in the conversation (with Hudson), she said, ‘I can’t say anything to that F****** Greenman,’” Greenman stated, adding that Hudson then told Greenman he had hoped that none of the girls had heard her outburst.

The coaches, Greenman said, also worried about being put in awkward positions by Bauer.

“Once again, this is another incident in which she has overstepped her boundaries as a board member,” Greenman stated. “Going out and asking if the coach needed help hitting to the team is one thing, but everything else after that was inappropriate and needs to stop.”

In March, a second school bus driver, Cheryl Turner, filed a formal complaint against Bauer with the school district after she discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request for video records that Bauer was behind a mean-spirited letter dropped off anonymously in Superintendent Rob Ridgeway’s office.

The letter, Turner said, contained information about an old incident she was involved in, and the parents involved in the incident were embarrassed when the information was brought to their attention three or four years later.

Turner said Bauer should have followed the proper chain of command instead of attacking someone's character in a sneaky way.

"I believe that she believes her power is absolute and she is accountable to no one," Turner said in her complaint. "She is an embarrassment to the district and, at this point, she is a liability because of her bullying and intimidating actions. I do not want this to happen to anyone else.

Asked about the incident, and about Bauer's behavior more generally, Ridgeway said only, "I want our school district to move forward, focusing on students and the great things that are happening at Harper Creek."

Contact Battle Creek education reporter Noe Hernandez at 269-966-0684 or nhernandez@battlecreekenquirer.com.