A Hamilton County school board candidate says he does not recall a letter written to him questioning his leadership skills during his tenure as a local principal.
David Testerman, who served as a teacher and administrator for more than 30 years in Hamilton County, calls himself a "very successful educator," despite a 2005 letter suggesting otherwise.
He is running for the District 8 seat on the Hamilton County Board of Education. The election is Aug. 5.
The letter is from Sylvia Drake, then the school system's director of elementary schools and Mr. Testerman's superior.
"Your effectiveness as an instructional leader has been questioned over the years. You have a history of transferring from school to school with unfinished business, incomplete teacher evaluations and leaving the schools in disarray," Ms. Drake wrote.
Mr. Testerman said that had been "a pretty good while ago," and that he didn't remember receiving it.
Ms. Drake, who retired and now serves as the interim principal at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, did not return a message seeking comment Friday.
Don Loftis, who was schools superintendent during much of Mr. Testerman's career, said a record of many school transfers does not necessarily indicate that the administrator was ineffective.
Dr. Loftis transferred Mr. Testerman to four principal assignments in about 12 years, records show.
"As a general rule, I transferred (principals) every five years because I thought it was best to get them in lots of different kinds of schools," Dr. Loftis said. "It had nothing to do with (Mr. Testerman's) ability. I always thought he did a good job."
Ms. Drake's letter, written while Mr. Testerman was principal at Ganns Middle Valley Elementary School, was in a "site file" kept by Deputy Superintendent Ray Swoffard, who served as Mr. Testerman's supervisor during the last several years of his career.
There is no copy of the letter in his personnel file at the central office and there are no evaluations for him after 2000. Mr. Testerman retired in 2007.
The site file includes several documents questioning Mr. Testerman's leadership abilities but it also includes documents praising him. One is a 1993 letter of support from some of his staff at Westview Elementary School after he was accused of having an affair with an office worker there.
"In our experience, he has conducted himself in a professional manner, shown uncommon leadership, managed the business of Westview School with effectiveness and treated colleagues, children and parents with respect and courtesy," the letter states.
In 2008, Mr. Testerman filed a lawsuit against Mr. Swoffard for interfering with his marriage. He claimed Mr. Swoffard had an "inappropriate personal relationship" with his wife, who worked as Mr. Swoffard's assistant.
Mr. Swoffard said he is suspicious of Mr. Testerman's reason for running for the school board.
"I know he's running for the wrong reason," Mr. Swoffard said. "I would say he's got an ax to grind with the school system in general."
Mr. Testerman denies the claim.
"I'm running for school board because I have a lot to offer. I have education in my heart," he said. "I want to do what I can to help the school system."
School board member Everett Fairchild represented Mr. Testerman's district when he was principal at Ganns Middle Valley.
Mr. Fairchild said he remembers that Mr. Testerman was to be demoted to a teaching position. He said he spoke to school system officials, saying he hated to see Mr. Testerman's retirement payments be cut after the educator had served the school system for so long.
Retirement is based on the last five years of a school employee's salary.
Mr. Testerman said the incident "doesn't ring a bell."
After serving as an assistant principal at East Ridge High School in 2006, Mr. Testerman was offered a teaching job at Orchard Knob Middle School. He turned the position down and retired instead.
He said his year at East Ridge was positive, but he was told at the end that his position had been eliminated.
Without commenting on whether Mr. Testerman did a good job as a principal, Mr. Fairchild, who also is a former principal, said the candidate's performance for the school system is relevant to his candidacy for the board.
"As a board member who has used my experience in the school system as part of my qualifications, I would think your performance as a principal and in the school system definitely has a relationship to your performance as a board member," Mr. Fairchild said. "It's very difficult to separate the two."
Follow Kelli Gauthier on Twitter at twitter.com/gauthierkelli
Continue reading by following these links to related stories:
Article: Testerman announces bid for District 8 school board seat
Article: School: Ganns Middle Valley Elementary PTA receives $2,000