Benton Harbor schools must navigate yet another superintendent resignation

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- The Benton Harbor Area School's Special meeting regarding the resignation of Superintendent Simone Griffin was held Thursday evening.

Griffin is now the sixth superintendent to leave Benton Harbor Area Schools in the past ten years. Griffin only served a year in her position.

The Benton Harbor Area School council went into closed session for an hour, and once they returned, they voted to put Griffin's resignation into effect on July 24. Several members on the board thanked Griffin for her contributions during her service.

The council appointed an Interim Superintendent, current BH High School principal Keith Sanders. He will take over as Interim on July 25.

Once the vote passed, the floor was open for public discussion. Only one person spoke, a woman named Angela Wilson Turnbil, and she disagreed with the decision because she says Sanders is a great principal and taking him away from the students would do them a disservice.

"The students come first; my question to the board is if they're making decisions for the children?" Turnbil said.

Griffin's resignation comes after facing several controversies during her tenure, including a recent video showing her confronting a student and throwing their belongings in a school hallway. When the video was made public, a petition quickly followed demanding her immediate removal. The petition had 327 signatures.

ABC57 was also able to obtain public records that show Griffin filed a formal complaint, accusing Trustees Elnora Gavin and Angela Doyle of retaliating against her for hiring decisions and forcing her out of her role.