Principal accused of causing worker’s concussion resigns after CPS investigation

The principal at a top-rated Chicago elementary school resigned Friday after officials spent months investigating several complaints of misconduct, and nearly three months after he was accused of hitting one of his employees in the face with a water bottle, giving her a concussion.

Chicago Public Schools officials presented their findings Friday to Kurt Jones, the now-former principal at Franklin Elementary Fine Arts Center in Old Town; Jones abruptly resigned.

“At Chicago Public Schools, we expect our school leaders to prioritize the safety and well-being of our students and staff, and we cannot accept behavior that compromises the sanctuary of our school communities,” Zipporah Hightower, a district official in charge of principals, wrote in a letter to parents Friday evening.

The district launched its investigation after Jones was accused in mid-March of throwing a plastic water bottle at school lunchroom worker Faye Jenkins, who was hit in the face and suffered a concussion. Jenkins filed a police report, and Chicago Police Department detectives are still investigating. Jones has not been charged, and was still on the job this week.

After the Chicago Sun-Times reported details of that incident, “numerous additional complaints were sent to CPS from both current and former employees at Franklin,” Hightower said, prompting CPS officials to widen the scope of their investigation.

Jones, reached by text Friday evening, said he’s in the process of consulting an attorney and will respond in the coming days.

Joyce Booker-Thomas, a longtime CPS administrator, will be put in charge of Franklin on an interim bases. She retired in 2016 after nearly 20 years as a teacher, assistant principal and most recently principal at West Park Academy in Humboldt Park.

Franklin’s elected Local School Council — made up of parents, teachers and community members — is now set to search for a new principal. The LSC came under scrutiny the past few months after it voted unanimously this winter to renew Jones’ $152,330-a-year contract through June 2024. The renewal happened months before the bottle-throwing incident but after other concerns about his behavior and demeanor had been raised.

The district scheduled an online meeting at 4 p.m. Monday for Franklin parents to hear about next steps for the school.

Jones had been issued a verbal reprimand this spring after video of a 2018 incident surfaced in January of him tossing a chair over a second-floor balcony in Franklin’s lunchroom. Jones has also been under investigation by the district’s inspector general for “inappropriate conduct” with a student.

Concerned parents at a school meeting last month questioned whether Jones should stay on the job, with some calling for him to be fired.