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A boss at the Antioch Unified School District, Kenneth Turnage II, has come under fire after being accused of workplace bullying for placing a subordinate's desk on the roof.
The incident, reminiscent of a prank from 'The Office' in which the character Jim moves the desk of his colleague Dwight to the toilet, took place last year.
It may end up costing his boss, Superintendent Stephanie Anello, her job.
The allegations surfaced against Kenneth Turnage II, who serves as the Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Facilities at the Antioch Unified School District. The incident involved Turnage allegedly having subordinate Jim Kesser’s desk moved on top of a maintenance yard structure, as reported by NBC Bay Area.
Kesser, the affected employee, told the station that the incident was meant to ‘humiliate’ him after he questioned his own qualifications to perform a task that Turnage had assigned.
Several other district employees also informed NBC Bay Area that Turnage is a well-known bully who benefits from his close relationship with Anello, the superintendent, and her husband, the city’s former police chief.
Antonio Hernandez, the school board President, stated that he's seeking to call a special trustees meeting in hopes of starting the process that could result in Anello’s removal. “I do not support the superintendent,” Hernandez told NBC News.
“I think this incident and the stories of these brave maintenance workers, who stood up in public to share their stories and trauma, show the poor judgment of our superintendent to keep this person in place.”
Another school board member, Jag Lathan, made it clear that Turnage’s alleged action was beyond acceptable limits. “When I found out, I was horrified. That was unacceptable,” Lathan said.
“What I can tell you is that the school district culture and climate matter. If our staff feels unsafe, that’s unacceptable.”
During a recent public comments part of a board meeting, when an NBC Bay Area reporter questioned Anello, she remained awkwardly silent for a minute and did not answer any queries about Turnage.
Four years ago, when he was chairman of Antioch's planning commission, Turnage made national headlines with Facebook comments about Covid-19 at the peak of the pandemic.
He said permitting illness to spread "allows the sick, the old, the injured to meet its natural course in nature.” And if the virus had an impact on homeless people, at least that would "fix what is a significant burden on our society and resources that can be used,” he added.
Turnage deleted the Facebook post after public outcry but refused to resign. The Antioch City Council voted unanimously to remove him as planning commission chairman over the remarks.
According to the latest data reported by Transparent California, a database of public employees’ compensation, Turnage made $78,741 in base pay in his current job with the school district in 2022. Anello made $307,094.82 in base pay in 2022, according to the database.
