What started as a social media uproar over a disruptive student at Elberta Elementary turned into a public referendum on school leadership in Baldwin County.

But when the dust settled at Thursday’s school board meeting, it wasn’t torches and pitchforks that filled the room — it was mostly praise for the school.

“Eddie Tyler has turned the school system around to be one of the most innovative and successful ones in the state,” said Anne Davis of Daphne, a retired teacher, summing up the tone of most who spoke.

Only three voices dissented against the school, including Elberta parent Whitney Scapecchi, who demanded Tyler’s resignation and accused the administration of prioritizing politics over students. “This district doesn’t have a PR problem, it has a leadership crisis,” she said. “We’re not satisfied. We’re not done. You have lost the trust of the teachers, children, and families.”

Scapecchi’s criticism came after a month of online furor, much of it targeting Tyler and longtime political consultant Jonathan Gray, who resigned Tuesday. Gray, a key figure behind many of the district’s initiatives over the past decade, will officially step down at the end of April.

“This (meeting) is positive,” Tyler said afterward, brushing off the backlash. “People get angry. They are parents. Lashing out at me, that’s OK. That’s their right. It doesn’t accomplish anything.”

Tyler, after the meeting, said any citizen can come before the board and call for his resignation at any time. It would be up to the School Board to remove him, and there was no indication on Thursday that it was under consideration. Tyler’s current three-year contract doesn’t expire until July 2027.

Political consultancy

Tyler will continue leading the school system without Gray, who he praised for having a positive influence on education in Baldwin County. He said the school system, through his office, had an agreement with Gray that paid him $9,500 a month.

School Board member Ken Bradley had requested the school board discuss “pressing pause” on its political consultancy. But Tyler said the relationship with Gray was through his office, and not the school board.

“There was an agreement with myself, and I have discretionary money (to pay for the consultancy work),” Tyler said. “We don’t bring those agreements to the board.”

Tyler, in a statement to AL.com, said Strategy Inc. began discussions with the school system a year ago, noting that the time commitment did not align “with the compensation we could provide. He said that this week, the agency informed the school that they had new business engagements requiring them to move on.

“We will forever be grateful for his work on behalf of our system,” Tyler said.

Gray has worked with the school system three times over the past 20 years.

“Even though I have worked with nearly a dozen school systems across the state of Alabama including Mobile County and Jefferson County, my work in helping make Baldwin County the best county school system in Alabama will always be among the (top) of that list (of achievements),” Gray said in a statement to AL.com.

He added, “Over the last couple of months, I have had to step back from some of my former time commitments to take on some new and amazing opportunities. As a result, I tendered my resignation on Tuesday and wish nothing but continued success for this amazing school system.”

Gray wasn’t at the board meeting, but he said he was pleased it was filled with mostly positive comments. He acknowledged there had been threats and negative commentary on social media about his role with the school system, and over the school’s handling of the situation in Elberta.

Tyler said some of the statements on social media have been “slanderous and libel.” He said he felt “blessed” to be at the Baldwin County School System for the past 10 years.

Indeed, most of the comments during the board meeting included praise for the school system under Tyler’s leadership that began in 2015. At that time, the school system was reeling from a stinging property tax referendum defeat and had few answers over how to proceed with a major capital plan to address overcrowded schools.

The school system, with assistance from the county and state lawmakers, has stabilized its finances. It has also since created a pay-as-you-go capital building program that has led to new school buildings throughout the county including the opening last August of the Baldwin Preparatory Academy, the $100 million career tech and vocational school in Loxley.

Gray was at Tyler’s side during most of that time, helping provide consultancy and contacts in getting the so-called penny tax stabilized and creating a reoccurring revenue source for school building projects.

Gray said the successes over the years have been “game changing.”

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing. The split of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach from the county school system created friction with the beach communities, which has reignited this year over a dispute over a sales tax distribution.

Elberta situation

On top of that, the concerns in Elberta include parents upset over claims of being largely ignored with their concerns about a special needs student who has become aggressive to peers.

Sarah Young, the school system’s attorney, said the situation is complicated because of multiple federal laws, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), establish requirements for public schools regarding the education of special needs students.

Federal laws require public schools provide special needs students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

“We are open,” Young said. “We know we make mistakes.”

Young noted that every school in Baldwin County has law enforcement officers present to respond to any problematic situations. In addition, the school board has a crisis alert system allowing school staff and law enforcement officers to respond quicker if a teacher is in need of help.

Some parents with special needs students who spoke during the board meeting praised how the school administers its programs.

“Their documentation on things going on with my children is impeccable,” said Kristen Townsend of Daphne, who has twin 9-year-old boys who both have autism who are also attending school at Belforest Elementary School. “It’s challenging to send special needs students off every day. But my children are thriving and it’s due to the Baldwin County Schools.”

Damage control

Critics of the school system mostly did not discuss the issues in Elberta, acknowledging privacy rights prevented specific details from being aired in a public venue.

Scapecchi argued that “empathy for one child does not outweigh the rights of others.”

She claimed Gray’s resignation was because of “public pressure” online.

“That’s not accountability, that’s damage control,” she said.

Rebecca Watson, who heads up the Baldwin County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said the school system was putting “politics ahead of our kids.” She said the board meeting amounted to being a “dog and pony show” filled with pro-Tyler and school system speakers that also included relatives of board members.

“To pretend everything is happy and everything is great is just going to make it worse,” she said.

Bradley, the school board member, said he felt the concerns about the school system illustrated a passion people have about it.

“Broadly speaking, parents have concerns about public education across the country,” he said. “The difference in Baldwin County is that people really care about the public school system. I designed my retirement after I retired from the Army, so my son could go to Perdido School. This is a good school system, and it’s where we want our children.”