On July 27 the Redmond School Board appointed Alice DeWittie to serve the remainder of Jill Cumming’s terms after she resigned, citing personal reasons. DeWittie and four other finalists had been whittled down from a list of 24 applicants.
DeWittie is a former principal of Summit High School, departing in 2017 after six years in the role. At the time, DeWittie was involved in developing small “strand” high schools and was a leading candidate to serve as a principal at what would become The Academy, The Bulletin reported in 2017. She faced some controversy over the Christian overtones in an email sent to the private Seven Peaks School from her personal email and in a blog post in Pneuma33, a faith-based creative agency that consults clients on web optimization, brand strategy and marketing.
“God is shifting from direct leadership to shared Presence at 7 Peaks. Being His light means walking in forgiveness and not revenge, moving in the direction of love, peace, and joy not fear, anger, and gossip,” she wrote in an email addressed to a Seven Peaks staff member.
The since-removed blog post, recovered via web archiving tools, titled Engaging Our Nation’s Children, outlines a model of education that advocates for more individualized education—informed by DeWittie’s Christian faith.
“Then one day God said, ‘Everything you have physical responsibility for you have spiritual responsibility for as well.’ I had physical responsibility for this school, therefore I had spiritual responsibility,” DeWittie wrote in the blog post.
Bend-La Pine Schools investigated DeWittie over a complaint made by Stewart Fritchman, who said DeWittie promoted creation theory to his child’s classroom. The investigation concluded DeWittie hadn’t violated district policies, but regardless, four days after Fritchman sent his email, DeWittie announced her resignation without going into detail as to why.
Since leaving public education DeWittie’s started 511 Impacts, a Christian blog that says its mission, “is to equip the Body of Christ for leadership through encouragement and building one another up.” She also wrote a book called “The Exchange: The Parable of the Seed” that derives Christian lessons from short fictional stories.
“Jesus taught in parables, allegories that illustrate the truth of the Kingdom. Creating a world where these truths are explored in a different setting, The Exchange introduces us to the Heart of the Father,” a description of the book says on Amazon.
During DeWittie’s interview with the Redmond School Board she listed her 20 years of experience in public education and experience working with boards as her biggest motivators seeking the seat. DeWittie has more experience in public schools than her competition, serving as an assessment, curriculum and instruction specialist, building administrator and principal.
Her application mirrors the individualized approach to teaching outlined in Engaging Our Nation’s Children, without the overt Christian themes, stating, “Not all students thrive in a comprehensive model, Redmond is big enough to provide alternative options for students. These would include those developed by the district, charter school options and support for homeschool families.”
Superintendent Charan Cline said he wasn’t aware of the controversy surrounding DeWittie until after she was selected as a finalist. He doesn’t foresee any issues stemming from DeWittie’s appointment.
“There’s 100 different reasons people run for boards, right,” Cline said. “When people come to a board, I work with them and do the best I can to bring them together to create a single voice and understand that we all have to follow the laws and the rules of the state of Oregon.”
“When people come to a board, I work with them and do the best I can to bring them together to create a single voice and understand that we all have to follow the laws and the rules of the state of Oregon.” —Charan Cline
Only one person appeared to oppose DeWittie’s appointment on July 27. Scott Brees opposed the appointment based on a series of antagonistic episodes he experienced while setting up Summit High School’s robotics team. He says her religion doesn’t factor into his complaint.
“Those are completely irrelevant to me. I’m referring very specifically to supervisory managerial and leadership ability,” Brees said.
He added that he believes the Redmond School District failed to adequately communicate the vacancy and appointment. Cline, however, says the process worked both as outlined in the school’s board policies, and in attracting a wide range of candidates.
“We advertised widely. The sessions for selecting people were held in public,” Cline said. “He may not have been aware of it because it is a Redmond issue not a Bend issue. So, I don’t know that I know what he would have wanted different in terms of transparency. We did have a huge slate of candidates, that’s the most candidates I’ve ever seen for something like that.”
DeWittie did not respond to a request for comment. Her term expires on June 30, 2023.
This article appears in Source Weekly August 11, 2022.
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As long as she keeps her “blog-speak” to herself, follows the law, and facilitates public education professionally then all is well. Time will tell.
“Superintendent Charan Cline said he wasn’t aware of the controversy surrounding DeWittie until after she was selected as a finalist.”
That’s the ENTIRE POINT I was speaking to, and I appreciate Charan Cline supporting that point so clearly. The fact they did not receive any feedback until AFTER the selection as a finalist and the appointment shows how poorly they sought the information from the community for such an important role. It also highlights a lack of transparency that Alice herself provided to the board. The other board members, and Charan himself, received scrutiny from their community through forums and elections. Those did not happen with Alice DeWitte.
Agree with ‘pnwhofjo.’ I would add . . . as long as Ms. DeWitte refrains from extolling personal beliefs while visiting classrooms.
I am shocked ( actually not) at her appointment as in addition to all
mentioned in this article, no one mentions here that she was the acting principal when several white children bullied Deshaun Adderley, the child who committed suicide, after not getting proper support at Summit High School and BLPS from constant bullying. The way this woman treated the Adderely family and the way she handled the situation with school staff and families after his death is completely incomprehensible. Just having this woman serve on a school board or working in a school with these religious right beliefs makes her unfit as she can not make proper decisions because she is so biased. People with such strong religious conviction have no place serving the majority. Perfect example is our Supreme Court!