District Attorney David Prater Reports on Porter Investigation

David Prater, Oklahoma County District Attorney
District Attorney David Prater's office released the results of his investigation into the allegations made by the Oklahoma City School Board against Dr. John Q. Porter. The DA's investigation cleared Dr. Porter of all allegations of criminal wrongdoing by Dr. Porter. DA Prater's statement reads,

"The evidence uncovered during the investigation failed to prove that Dr. John Q. Porter committed any crimnal act. In fact, an number of documents discovered in possession of the school district tended to exculpate or explain away most of the allegations made against Dr. Porter."

While this statement would give support to those who feel that Dr. Porter has been exhonorated and the victim of a "palace coup" as I have alledged elsewhere in the blog, a report on interviews done with 19 administration employees and board members, including former board president Cliff Hudson, paint a picture of a superintendent who acted as a "bully" and tended towards paranoid behavior. One example of this is a report by school board member Gail Vines who said that Porter told him that people in the school administration offices were "ratting on" him. Porter also, some claimed, instructed his employees never to use e-mail or written notes to communicate with him insisting on phone or personal conversations. Porter, himself, claimed that there were "moles" in the administration who reported on him to Cliff Hudson among others.

In the end, the Dr. Porter's supporters and detractors will probably read into this report what they want to read. I am more inclined to feel that Dr. Porter's resignation was a "necessary evil" due to the fact that any hope of a good working relationship between him and the board was impossible.

I also think this strengthens my claim, one shared by many in the district, that the next superintendent should be an "insider" whom we know and whom we feel has credibility. At the least it can be said that Dr. Porter felt isolated having come from a far different environment, and it would seem that his management style in the administration building did not allow him to build kind of ethos he needed to lead the district and make the changes we all know need to be made to lift our district to a higher level.