Students, teachers rally outside Ky. school to show support for principal

WOODFORD, Ky. (WKYT) - Teachers and students stepped outside Woodford County High School Thursday morning to show support for their principal.

We’re told they felt they needed to send a message to the school board that they are standing behind Principal Morgan Howell.

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We spoke with Howell who told us he was called into a meeting with the school board last Monday and was told that they didn’t think things were going in the right direction. He said that he was given an ultimatum to either resign as the principal of Woodford County High School or be demoted, which he said would essentially see him become a teacher.

We have reached out to the school district for comment, but, right now, they’re saying this is a personnel matter and they won’t speak on that.

We’ve been hearing this could come back to Howell’s “black and white” stance on certain topics. He says he’s steadfast in what he believes and that might rub some people the wrong way.

Students we talked with said they think it’s added structure to the school environment, which is something they didn’t have under previous principals.

“You see a bunch of stuff on Voices of Versailles all the time about people complaining about ‘oh, this rule happened at school, this rule happened at school,’ but I think it’s good because Mr. Howell actually provides some structure, rather than our past principals who have just been all over the place,” said Luc Vandenbroke, Woodford County High School junior. “Mr. Howell has just been straight to the point. He knows what he wants to do.”

When we spoke with Howell he told us he would fight this demotion and take it as far as he can.

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