Parents allege discrimination against students, mother

“The teacher, over the course of the last four years, repeatedly targeted my daughters by engaging in inappropriate religious conversations, suggested they will not go to heaven, and then learned I had filed a complaint and pulled my 7-year-old aside and warned her that if she was going to be a tattle tale, her tongue would grow too big to fit in her mouth.

“This harassment then transferred over to me every time I encountered this specific teacher, including asking me, ‘Where’s your husband?,’ ‘Here comes Miss Big Brown Eyes,’ ‘I feel bad for you, you don’t have any sons.’ All kind of comments.”

Naveela intimated that she initially tried to have patience and give the benefit of the doubt, but after four years, she finally decided to file a formal complaint.

“I would like to thank the Primary School Principal (Debby Decubellis) at this time because she handled it very well,” Naveela said. “Thank you so much for doing that. Because I have timestamps of her communicating everything to the superintendent.

“What did (Superintendent Hill) do? Picked up the phone to call my employer. Yes, he called my boss and said, ‘If she doesn’t take this complaint back and if you don’t address this issue, my elected board member will cut all ties with your institution.’

“When he didn’t get his way, he went to a board member of my job who he’s friends with and his dad is friends with, basically using his personal connections to get his way.”

Naveela said she was so concerned about losing her job that she packed up her office in anticipation of being let go, and she said that she still fears that her termination could happen any day now.

“It was a terrible, terrible day as a parent to learn that I filed a complaint of discrimination, and I was targeted further,” Naveela said. “My box is still packed, because I don’t know what this man is capable of – I have no idea.

“So, fast forward, when I finally confronted him, I said, ‘Talk to me. I am angry, I’m upset, I’m sad, I’m frustrated at the unprofessionalism that I have never witnessed (before).’”

Naveela said Hill tried to “gaslight” her, responding that he did not know what she was talking about and he had not done anything wrong, but she noted that, “I have timestamps, I have emails – I have been able to get everything from my employer through my policies and procedures.”

“And there’s more,” Naveela said to the board. “There’s a lot more that has come out since I sent you that email (previously notifying you of the situation).”

After talking with Hill about what she perceived as retaliation, Naveela said she reported everything to the Office for Civil Rights and filed a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act violation regarding private student information shared with people outside the school system.

As her allotted speaking time ran out, Naveela said to those gathered, “Just as a parent, know that if you file a complaint, it will go other places.”

Her husband Simon Philbeck spoke next, highlighting that, while they were there to discuss a personal matter that evening, “it relates to every parent in this room and in this county.”

“If this is how business is handled, it’s a bit disturbing,” Simon said. “I had this whole spiel written up about what the right things to do, what the wrong things to do are, and how when you’re in a leadership position, how you should stive for integrity and doing the right things no matter what the cost is.

“Whatever your belief system is, it doesn’t really matter. If you treat people incorrectly, it’s going to come back to haunt you in many different forms and karma – whatever you have your belief system rooted in.

“I’m not going to beat a dead horse; I think my wife covered it pretty well. Not really a fan of the lack of professionalism that I’ve seen displayed at the school system. There are those that are doing the right things, such as the principal for the Primary School that was mentioned previously by my wife.

“With that being said, it’s been tantamount to just incompetence, the fact that it’s gone on this long. You’ve had multiple issues brought to your attention multiple times to address these issues, and the lack of the ability for this administration to solve these issues is dumbfounding.

“This cannot stand; it can’t keep going. You guys are elected to handle business in a professional and cordial manner, and that’s what I would like to see done.”

After the meeting, Naveela Philbeck told the North Georgia News that the School Board had been delaying coming up with a resolution, essentially “buying time” by only communicating on the matter right before meetings before going silent for weeks at a time.

“They are at this point aware of everything and yet nothing has happened,” Naveela said. “We are now forced to speak publicly to get them to address the matter and inform other parents so they know what can happen if you simply ask them to follow policy.

“Our children will be attending Union County Schools for years to come, and this is very serious to us and even more concerning that the superintendent and board members have resorted to just ignoring us.

“They are playing the victim after attacking me first, and my responses stating I will seek legal remedies is not something they have taken well to.”

Regarding those legal remedies, Naveela said there are currently multiple investigations in the works, including for her civil rights and FERPA complaints, and she said she has reported Hill and the Primary School teacher in question to the state’s education standards board.

“(The) Civil Rights office did start an investigation and asked if I’d be open to mediation, and I agreed,” she said. “The investigator was waiting for weeks and only heard back the day before the board meeting, and even then, the district did not agree to mediation but wanted more specifics before they would agree.

“We unfortunately cannot sit here and wait forever because they have made it clear they have no intention of moving forward with good faith. I notified (the) Civil Rights investigator I’m no longer interested in mediation after the board meeting.”

Naveela added that every agency she has reached out to about this “requested additional documentation and proof and determined my complaint had validity, yet (the) board has done nothing!”

“We have no choice but to file a lawsuit, so we are working on that now,” she said. “I do have more to share at the next meeting. I want it all on the record for public meetings, so we will be there next month.”

By press time, School Board members either did not respond to requests for comment or declined to comment on the Philbecks’ accusations from the meeting, however, Superintendent Hill did provide a statement Friday.

“The School District does not comment on ongoing or potential legal matters,” Hill said. “However, we remain committed to maintaining an open and nurturing environment, free of discrimination of any type, where all our students can thrive.”

Pat Donaldson was the next public commenter in the Jan. 23 meeting. Donaldson is the former principal of Union County Middle School who transitioned this school year to a half-time teacher position.

She expressed appreciation for the system’s administration, faculty and staff, adding that she was thankful that her daughter was able to benefit from the optional attendance day on Friday, Jan. 17, in the aftermath of a weeklong closure due to icy road conditions from the Jan. 10 snow.

Morganton resident Sylvia Munson addressed the board next, saying she was a grandmother of children who attend Union County Schools. She said both her and her daughter work full time, and that the extended school closures this month were “becoming untenable.”

“The kids were restless, their mom needed to work to keep her job, and opening schools on Friday was a huge blessing,” Munson said. “It wasn’t a full day, but it was a big relief and let her get to work.”

Munson said that online learning days should not replace snow days, which is difficult for families because snow days come with a lot of distractions, home upkeep and kids who “want to play.”

She also said she attended the January commission meeting and heard concerns about children at risk of not receiving sufficient food during school closures, “and that’s another reason that the schools need to be open whenever possible to take care of those kids.”

Offering a “possible solution to consider,” Munson asked that the system limit online learning days “in every way possible,” as they are difficult to deal with for working parents, and students are not receiving a full day of learning anyway.

“Regarding the snow days that the school can’t open, call it a snow day,” Munson said. “And then, if the school can open, as soon as possible, like you did last Friday, even with reduced staff, one of the things you could do is provide the modified bus routes like you do for summer.”

Attendance for the optional school day was open for families who could bring their children to campus, but buses did not run on Jan. 17, as too many routes still contained icy spots, and Munson was asking that modified bus routes be used in similar future situations.

“In our case, we could get out of our driveway,” Munson said. “Our next-door neighbor could not. So, we can pick up our next-door neighbor’s kids and take them to the location that the modified bus routes go to.”

Resident Beverly Iler spoke last, stating that she, too, was a grandparent and supported everything Munson had said. Iler remarked it was important that kids are in class doing hands-on work as often as possible, especially after the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coverage of the business portion of the Jan. 23 School Board meeting appears in a separate article in this week’s newspaper.