Behavior coordinator Anthony Williams resigned from his job on Jan. 29. His resignation followed a long period of absence, which began in mid-December. Since Williams’ period of absence began, students and staff members have been kept in the dark about why he left MTHS.

“What I can say at this point is that Mr. Williams has resigned,” Principal Greg Schwab said. “At this point, the reasons for his resignation are confidential.”

Williams’ abrupt resignation took students and staff members by surprise. The lack of information from school administrators being released is also leaving many feeling displeased.

“As a concerned member of our community, I trust our administration to make the best decisions for the school,” drama and history teacher Jeannie Brzovic said. “When the time is appropriate I’m sure they will provide some information to clarify matters.”

“I don’t feel like they’ve released enough information,” junior Senaiet Zerom said. “The students deserve to know what happened to Mr. Williams.”

Williams became the first student behavior coordinator at MTHS in 2010. Williams was hired after Officer Heidi Froisland’s position as school resource officer was eliminated in district wide budget cuts.

Prior to working at MTHS, Williams worked as a teacher at a middle school in Nebraska, as well as a behavior disorder teacher at Ingraham H.S. in Seattle. In the year before he started working at MTHS, he was a teacher at Edmonds-Woodway High School.

Williams was very active with activities at MTHS. He was an adviser for the Class of 2015 ASB, a coach for the freshman football team and the track team, and even played a role in the 2010 MTHS theater production of “Larry and the Werewolf”.

Williams also helped start the MTHS Black Student Union.

“He was a big part of our school, especially African American kids. He really bonded with us,” Zerom said.

When an employee resigns it is often difficult for school officials to comment out of respect the employee’s privacy. Any specific information would have to come from Williams himself.

Williams did not respond to The Hawkeye’s requests as of press time.

Human resources representatives for the Edmonds School District also declined to comment on the matter to protect Williams’ confidentiality.

The lack of official information released has helped to ignite the spreading of rumors about Williams and has raised speculation about why he left.

“I would just caution people to be really careful about what they’re saying because that could be really damaging to a person’s reputation,” Schwab said.

“It’s really important that we respect confidentiality in these matters,” Schwab continued. “To talk about Mr. Williams when he’s not here, to speculate on what we think happened, none of that is productive. People resign positions all the time. Anytime someone makes a decision about their employment status it’s really important that we respect their reasons and that we not engage in speculation or gossip or spreading rumors because we don’t really know and only that person really knows.”