A Northern California school administrator, who lost a city post four years ago over controversial Covid remarks, was accused of workplace bullying for putting his subordinate’s desk on a roof, officials said Thursday.
The allegations against Kenneth Turnage II, director of maintenance, operations and facilities at the Antioch Unified School District, could end up costing the job of his boss, superintendent Stephanie Anello.
The incident happened last year when Turnage allegedly had subordinate Jim Kesser’s desk moved on top of a maintenance yard structure, NBC Bay Area reported.
Kesser told the station the incident was meant to humiliate him because he questioned his own qualifications to perform a task that Turnage had assigned.
Several other district employees told NBC Bay Area that Turnage is allegedly a well-known bully who benefits from being close friends with Anello and the superintendent’s husband, the city’s former police chief.
School board president Antonio Hernandez said he’ll call for a special trustees meeting, as early as Friday night, to seek Anello’s removal.
“I do not support the superintendent,” Hernandez told NBC News on Thursday. “I think this incident and the stories of these brave maintenance workers, who stood up in public to share their stories and trauma, shows the the poor judgment of our superintendent to keep this person in place.”
Another school board member, Jag Lathan, declined to reveal on Thursday whether she wants Anello out. But the trustee made it clear that Turnage’s alleged action was beyond the pale.
“When I found out, I was horrified. That was unacceptable,” Lathan said. “What I can tell you is that school district culture and climate matter. If our staff feels unsafe, that’s unacceptable.”
Turnage, Anello and the superintendent’s husband — former Antioch police chief Allan Cantando — did not immediately return messages seeking their comment on Thursday.
Earlier this month, when an NBC Bay Area reporter questioned Anello during the public comments portion of a board meeting, the school’s chief remained awkwardly silent for a minute and did not answer any queries about Turnage.
Four years ago, when he held the position of Antioch’s planning commission chairman, Turnage made national headlines with Facebook comments about Covid-19 at the peak of the pandemic.
He said that permitting illness to spread “allows the sick, the old, the injured to meet its natural course in nature.”
And if the virus had an impact on homeless people, at least that would “fix what is a significant burden on our society and resources that can be used.”
Turnage deleted the Facebook post following public outcry, but refused to resign. The Antioch City Council voted unanimously to remove his from his position as planning commission chairman over the remarks.
