The board awarded a $36 million contract for renovations at The Academy @ Shawnee.(JCPS)Before Hollie Smith was removed from her position as the top administrator at the Academy @ Shawnee last week, she was under investigation for misconduct and creating a toxic work environment, according to employ ees with knowledge of the inquiry.The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting spoke to five current and former Shawnee staff members, including three with direct knowledge of the nature of the investigation. The employees requested anonymity for fear of retaliation and because they were not authorized to speak to the press while the investigation is ongoing.Jefferson County Public Schools spokesperson Carolyn Callahan told KyCIR she could not comment on the nature of the investigation but confirmed that it is ongoing. Smith is still employed by the district. Callahan also confirmed employees’ claims that former Academy @ Shawnee high school principal Joni Britt is under investigation, as well. Britt resigned on May 15, according to the Courier Journal.Neither Smith nor Britt responded to requests for comment.Hollie Smith (Jefferson County Public Schools)JCPS leaders put Smith into the role of Executive Principal at the Academy @ Shawnee in 2024. The historic west Louisville middle and high school was in the middle of transformative growth under a new student assignment plan.In recent years, JCPS’ top officials made big promises at Shawnee, saying they were righting historic wrongs that for decades directed funding and students away from the majority-Black school. Under former JCPS superintendent Marty Pollio, the district invested in a $42 million dollar renovation of the third floor and pool, and made the school open to many more families in west Louisville. The doubling of students over two years allowed the school to hire more faculty and offer more extracurriculars.Current and former Shawnee staff members told KyCIR that under former principal Kym Rice, who retired at the end of the 2023-2024 school year, the school was understaffed, but well-run and getting its feet amid explosive student growth.Under Smith, they said the school became a toxic environment where Smith harassed employees and retaliated against those who spoke out. They also raised questions about how Smith used school funds, saying that leadership often refused to provide staff with routine financial reports for activity and athletic team accounts.Callahan said she could not provide a timeline for the investigation.The details shared with KyCIR by current and former staff provide a peek behind the curtain at Shawnee. The Courier Journal first reported on the leadership shakeup last week.JCPS wrongfully withheld reassignment records since MarchKyCIR got a tip in March that Smith was reassigned amid a personnel investigation and was not allowed on campus.JCPS officials don’t usually confirm reassignments, so KyCIR put in a request for Smith’s files, including any notices of reassignment. The Kentucky Open Records Act requires public agencies to provide most kinds of records on request, with some exemptions.In response, JCPS staff acknowledged in an unsigned email that the district was withholding some records due to an “ongoing administrative investigation,” but did not provide a reassignment letter for Smith. While JCPS typically withholds investigative files and complaints until the end of any inquiry, the district will still provide reassignment letters which lets the public know who is the subject of the inquiry and where they have been assigned.KyCIR followed up on March 31 asking for the same records, but JCPS Assistant General Counsel Ashley Lant told KyCIR there were “no additional records at this time.”Smith had already been reassigned for 11 days.KyCIR also emailed JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan asking about a rumor that Smith had left campus on March 31: “I heard Hollie Smith left campus today over a district[] investigation. Can you please provide some information about what’s going on a[t] Shawnee?”Callahan wrote back that Smith was off on a “pre-scheduled vacation day” on March 31.“So no, that did not happen,” Callahan wrote.When a June 9 Courier Journal article broke the news of Smith’s March reassignment, KyCIR emailed JCPS attorney Amanda Herzog asking why the reassignment letter was not provided when KyCIR requested it on March 25 and again March 31.Herzog replied that when KyCIR first asked, the reassignment letter had not yet been put in Smith’s personnel file.“Our Open Records staff did not realize the oversight,” Herzog wrote. “When you followed up on the 31st, we did not realize that you did not have the reassignment notice yet. I apologize for the confusion.”Asked about her response to KyCIR’s inquiry on March 31, Callahan told KyCIR she answered KyCIR’s “specific question.”“I did not know Smith was reassigned at that time, nor did you ask about a reassignment,” she said.Jefferson County Board of Education Chair Corrie Shull did not respond to a request for comment.This isn’t the first time JCPS staff have wrongfully withheld records from KyCIR. Last June, KyCIR requested financial records related to the purchase of a billboard along I-65 thanking outgoing superintendent Marty Pollio for his service.KyCIR eventually discovered top staff paid for the giant thank-you using nearly $7,000 from a grant meant to support low-income students and students of color.JCPS initially produced just one $800 invoice for design. After several follow up emails, Callahan told KyCIR the total cost was $6,950. A second records request for Callahan’s email showed she had the $6,950 contract in her inbox and had failed to produce it in response to KyCIR’s first request.Callahan told KyCIR she overlooked it. “Nothing on purpose,” she said at the time.Louisville Public Media is suing JCPS over another records dispute. The district is withholding texts that Pollio and other top officials sent each other during the calamitous rollout of a new transportation plan for 2023-2024 school year.A Jefferson County circuit court judge sided last summer with LPM, but the district is appealing her decision. ...read more read less