BERGMAN: Disappointed in GMC’s handling of principal departure

Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, February 7, 2023

As the parent of a NDUSA scholarship student and a former Assistant Professor of Military Science in GMC’s Military Junior College Army SROTC Battalion, I am disappointed in the manner in which CSM Steve Greer’s departure is being handled. If he committed an infraction so egregious as to justify his immediate removal and the predictable disruption that followed, the school owes a clearly communicated explanation. Reasonable and responsible administrators should have recognized the need to mitigate the impact his mid-day dismissal would have on everyone affiliated with GMC and planned accordingly for a smooth transition and departure at a less disruptive time.

I have to assume what circumstances led to this “difficult decision” because I don’t actually know. GMC has said nothing of substance, allowing speculation to replace facts. However, common sense dictates this sort of dismissal is entirely inconsistent with CSM Greer’s well-documented character, and is the exact opposite of the kind of farewell one would expect from an institution that prides itself on leadership and service. I have no idea how to accurately frame all of this because the only thing heard from GMC is deafening silence. There is an overwhelming lack of institutional accountability.

No leader ‘deserves’ their position — we are only ever entrusted as temporary stewards. It is an awesome responsibility and privilege — never a right or a benefit. Leadership requires the obligation to confront difficult moments rather than simply hope they go away on their own if adequately ignored. That being said, if CSM Greer broke the public trust and confidence bestowed upon him by virtue of his position as principal, then I am grateful to GMC. Action should be taken to inform parents and the community to protect current and future students. However, such a decision should not have been difficult — it should have been clear and decisive, and it definitely would not have been categorized as “a surprise to some.”

The fact that informing parents and protecting the community doesn’t seem to be a primary concern for GMC indicates there is more information missing from this story. The only alternative to hearing unknown facts that would explain GMC’s urgent need to remove CSM Greer while also making logical sense of GMC’s subsequent inaction to explain the decision would be an otherwise unlikely yet shameful abdication of responsibility on GMC’s part. It certainly seems that either CSM Greer did not do anything to actually warrant his immediate dismissal while the school is trying to gloss over the real reason for his termination, or he did do something that justified his immediate firing yet for some different reason the school is still trying to hand-wave events. This does not sit well. It has the air of something unsavory and potentially scandalous taking place at the school, with no attempt to set the record straight.

Is GMC the type of school that would dismiss a highly-regarded principal in the middle of a school day without warning or explanation while failing to predict or mitigate the resulting impact? If there was good reason to do so, I want to hear what that reason was and I want to see safeguards emplaced. As a parent, this is not an unrealistic expectation.

If there is no reasonable justification for the decision or legal/moral/ethical need to emplace safeguards, then was his immediate dismissal really necessary? Is GMC the type of school that would arbitrarily dismiss a principal for personal or political reasons? It pains me to even consider the possibility.

For the first time, I am questioning the value of the education I believed my child would receive at GMC. Students learn from everyone with whom they interact —not just their assigned teachers, instructors, counselors, coaches, administrators, faculty, staff and peers. The learn from the sum total of their academic environment. Students are entrusted to their teachers and instructors, while administrators support their effort and provide the structure that enables learning to take place. I value the many dissenting opinions and life experiences to be found on campus and believe both students and adults should be encouraged to grapple with ideas and perspectives that stretch their comfort zones. If CSM Greer was dismissed for a reason that may make people uncomfortable, then that is even more reason to engage in dialogue.

My doubts about keeping my child at GMC are about ‘walking the walk’ when it comes to character and are directly related to the administration’s chosen course of action last week. There are many schools with outstanding academic rigor and extra-curricular excellence. We chose GMC Prep for the emphasis on character we believed permeated it’s everyday culture.

However, when the Chairman of the Board of Trustees tells an entire community to just accept the decision that has been made and to move on with no further explanation, I am immediately suspicious and distrustful of the messenger’s agenda. I do not see him as a leader and I don’t trust that organization with my most important investment — my child. That is not going to change because GMC finds it inconvenient to go on the record with the full extent of why the principal’s removal (and subsequently another disruption to students’ education in a Post-Covid world) was deemed necessary. Why would such a drastic measure be taken, only to be followed with a letter from the Board of Trustees imploring parents to not disrupt students’ education? The disruption was caused by GMC’s decision to terminate the principal in the middle of a school day. While this sort of short-notice dismissal action has occurred several times in the Milledgeville campus’ junior college in recent years, it was plain foolish to even consider removing CSM Greer in the middle of Tuesday morning in a school full of hundreds of minor-aged students and expect people to not be upset.

Shame on the Board for asking others to conduct themselves in a way GMC is unwilling to conduct itself. Don’t send an official-looking letter telling me to not engage in actions or dialogue that may cause disruptions— that I should just move on because of your Jedi mind trick. Don’t expect me to simply support the GMC Family. This is manipulative and disingenuous, and I am embarrassed on the school’s behalf.

Mr. George Hogan, Sr.’s letter is nothing more than an attempt to make the entire situation go away without any true accountability. This weak effort invoking the well-being of “our students” as a valid reason to squash all further discussion is the exact reason I now want to talk about it. The lack of transparency combined with an unusual sense of haste through the entire past week, misspellings in email subject lines, and an unrelated communication I had with the school on February 2 that still had Steve Greer’s signature block only add further to the perception this was not well-planned out and very poorly executed.

I want my children to ask difficult, uncomfortable questions. I want them to consider dissenting opinions and the views of people who have had different life experiences than they have had. But mostly, I would like to know the real reason why GMC seems to want this to fade quickly into forgotten history. CSM Greer is talking about his dismissal openly, publicly and respectfully. The inference is that GMC’s administration has something to hide. The people and organization entrusted with teaching students about character should be up to the task of addressing difficult questions. They should at least equal my child’s preparedness, and my child is asking questions for which I have no answers from GMC to provide full context.

Character is what you see when tough choices have to be made. It’s not about what you do when times are good or easy. President Caldwell’s notification claimed removing the principal was a difficult decision but he neglected to consider the resulting impact on others. What will GMC do next?

I have personally observed multiple GMC officials (all happened to be military veterans) advise future Army officers to always conduct themselves as though whatever they are about to do might end up on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper for everyone to see. That they should pause to consider how they would explain themselves. I’ve heard these same GMC officials advise future officers that if you compromise your integrity for even the smallest moment, you will never gain it back.

Please, GMC, don’t give your integrity away. Keep it intact. Provide an adequate explanation for the manner in which CSM Steve Greer’s dismissal was handled. The one life lesson I am not prepared to discuss with my child is why so many influential adults with sway over so many futures would claim to value leadership, character and service but not actually demonstrate it. I am not prepared to support an institution (with or without a scholarship) that may inadvertently be teaching students that character matters only sometimes and only if convenient.

Kirsten J. Bergman

Milledgeville