State board education staffers move to governor's tower

The staff of the State Board of Education, who had been caught in the middle of a feud between State schools chief Diane Douglas and Gov. Doug Ducey, stealthily moved out of their offices Saturday, The Arizona Republic has learned.

The 11 staffers vacated their offices in Douglas' building and are now working on the third floor of the Governor's tower. The Department of Administration, the human resources hub of the state, identified the empty office space and provided the staff with technology accounts on new computer servers that will allow them to work independently of Douglas' Department of Education.

The Board of Education approved the move in April, but until this weekend, it was unclear to where they would move and when.

Christine Thompson, the board's executive director, said the employees had moved in an e-mail late Saturday that also announced the launch of the board's new website, azsbe.az.gov.

The 11-member board oversees school policy for K-12 schools and operates separately from the superintendent of public instruction, though Douglas is a board member. The other 10 are appointed by the governor.

Board President Greg Miller said the move was designed to protect staffers from an unhealthy work environment at the Department of Education.

Department of Education officials declined to comment on the move, saying they would have a response Tuesday.

Shortly after Gov. Doug Ducey and Douglas took office, they engaged in a public political and legal dispute over who had the authority to hire and fire Board of Education employees. Douglas believes she has the authority; Ducey believes that authority lies with the Board of Education.

The staff's move comes as speculation persists over whether Douglas will again try to terminate Thompson and Assistant Executive Director Sabrina Vazquez.

On Feb. 11, Douglas fired Thompson and Vazquez, but Ducey quickly weighed in and said she did not have the authority to do so. Douglas criticized Ducey for interfering but said she hoped for legislation to clarify the issue. That legislation died last session, and there has been no movement on either side to clarify who has the authority.

The move also comes as Douglas and top aides continue to clash with board employees.

In one e-mail to Kirk Adams, the governor's chief of staff, Douglas' chief of staff Michael Bradley accused the Board of Education employees of "creating a hostile work environment," saying the "HR department is being flooded with complaints." He described several verbal confrontations and an assault on some staff "with many witnesses." He wrote that Douglas ordered each employee to file paperwork with HR to describe the incidents. He wrote neither he nor Douglas were present during the alleged assault: "Had it been anyone else, we would have called DPS, fired the individual and walked them from the building. The staff that were trapped in their office by this person may or may not be filing criminal charges."

Bradley also wrote the continued friction between Board of Education staffers and Department of Education staffers "cannot long be contained." He wrote: "If the staff decide to press charges, we can't interfere. All of our meetings with BOE (Board of Education) personnel on agenda items are openly hostile toward us and non-productive, despite our best efforts to defuse the tension."

Miller, the board president, said Bradley's e-mail describing the infighting "was a significant distortion." In light of the e-mail, Miller said he asked Department of Administration's human-resources staff to perform an independent evaluation of the situation.

"They're in the middle of that investigation right now, because it wasn't anything like what he (Bradley) portrayed it," Miller said.

Miller said the Board of Education staffers' move "was intended to protect them ... it was our understanding that people in her (Douglas') administration were monitoring their phone calls and e-mails and everything else. It was not a healthy environment."

Follow the reporter on Twitter @yvonnewingett.