Due process hard to come by for "accused" middle school teacher

I don't know the details of a middle school teacher's administrative leave from Tony Hillerman Middle School.

But, you don't need to know the details to get the picture;
the teacher has been accused of some thing by some one,
and his life has been recklessly, perhaps deliberately
destroyed as a result.

The teacher says he has "done nothing wrong" and has "no idea what he is being accused of." The district had not contacted him (two days after ejecting him from APS property). He was yet to see a shred of due process. He wrote;

I am very confused, hurt, and angry right now. I feel violated by my employer and disrespected by the administration. I was presumed guilty and treated like a criminal from the beginning without due process. My character is being attacked. My name and reputation are being tarnished, and my career jeopardized. I'm being tried in the court of public opinion before I even know why.

Steve Buford's life will never be the same, regardless of his innocence or guilt.

He continues;

APS has handled whatever this situation is in an irresponsible and reckless manner. As usual, they are creating more fires than they extinguish. My family and I are being unjustly humiliated and attacked by the district. I’ve done nothing wrong and deserve fair treatment. I will be exonerated and hold whoever is responsible for this situation accountable.

He is wrong on that last; he will likely never "hold whoever is responsible for this situation accountable".

At least that has been my experience.

"Never pick a fight with a man who buys his ink by the barrel",
and by logical extension; never pick a fight with administrators
and board members who are friends with a man who can bury
serious complaints against them, deep inside the newspaper,
link, assuming he prints them at all.

Kent Walz, Journal Managing
Editor, covering up the lack of
due process in the administration
of the of the APS.




frame grab Mark Bralley