Barton calls the move strictly tactical. District lawyers intervened and the case was promptly dismissed. Eventually, Webb was fired and Dobrin was allowed to transfer to another school. Barton confirms that he gave unsatisfactory evaluations to several other teachers. The principal says he refuses to play the game of threatening teachers with an unsatisfactory evaluation in hopes of getting them to initiate transfer proceedings.
Some teachers agree.
Nancy Carney, one of a few staff members who has been at Gatewood throughout Barton's tenure, defends the principal's actions. I think it takes a lot of courage to come into a school and do a lot of housecleaning. Some of Barton's other early reforms ran into problems. He is an outspoken proponent of inclusion, or taking special education students from separate programs and returning them to regular classrooms. But when he immediately implemented this policy, some teachers were overwhelmed by the addition of behavior-challenged students.