Ortona Principal Ousted After Internal Investigation

...This is Dr. Katie Dyer, calling you to inform you that a decision has been made for a change in leadership at Ortona Elementary School. As a parent myself, I know that your primary concern is for the safety and wellbeing of your student. That's my number one priority as well. I am tremendously honored to serve as the acting principal for Ortona Elementary.”

Dr. Katie Dyer addressing parents via message

Daytona Beach, FL - A message sent out to parents on the first day back to school (January 6th) says that Ortona Elementary's principal, Shantell Adkins, no longer held the position, without being told why.

But, an 87-page investigative summary from Volusia County Schools shows numerous complaints and reports from employees alleging that Adkins made inappropriate comments and jokes about teachers, along with creating a hostile work environment and having a rumored affair with one teacher.

According to the report, a custodian at Ortona sent an email on September 13th to VCS, detailing different comments made by Adkins. Those comments included asking her about her "baby daddy" and constantly "badgered" her about her personal life.

She also claimed that Adkins told her she looked like she gained weight, asked if she was pregnant and told her that she was "petit" when she started working there.

That same email also detailed an incident where a student threatened to jump the fence at Ortona and kill herself, which is when the school's resource officer got involved in the situation.  The custodian claims that Adkins told the SRO to go and he would handle the incident instead. When the SRO tried to stay, Adkins supposedly got angry at her. The custodian also claimed that Adkins disciplined the Teacher on Assignment at Ortona for getting the SRO involved.

The SRO at Ortona was also involved in VCS's investigation against Adkins. The investigative report shows that the SRO forwarded a police report involving an incident at the school to the investigator. In that report, she mentioned a conversation she had with Adkins where he supposedly told her that if she walked more she would lose weight.

Another letter included in the email from Volusia County Schools to News Daytona Beach shows that Adkins completed a "professionalism in the workplace" course on December 6th, 2019.

Dr. Katie Dyer,  the VCS K-12 curriculum director will fill the position as interim principal until a replacement is found. She sent out a message to parents earlier today (January 6th), saying that a decision was made for a "change in leadership" at Ortona, without going into specifics.