The CEO of a local charter school is speaking-out following KUAM's story with one former employee who says his termination was retalitory on the school’s end. Dr. Jay Sunga tells his side of the story after the charter school recently let go of four employees.

Fired just five days before Christmas - this is the reality for one former teacher at Science Is Fun And Awesome Learning Academy Charter School, who believes his termination was retaliation for questioning school practices and speaking out about concerns shared with colleagues.

But SIFA management says otherwise, arguing that his termination, along with four other faculty members, was part of a year-end assessment called "transition to precision."

"This program includes the performance assessment of all our teachers, faculty, and staff to evaluate everything from lesson plan development to classroom management," Dr. Sunga explained. "After an assessment was done by a third party, we found four faculty members who were underperforming and were then terminated.”

He firmly denied claims of administrative misconduct, including allegations that the chief of student affairs verbally attacked a former teacher.  “I could clearly confirm that we did not berate; we did not have retaliatory actions. Again, our decisions were made through assessments and through thoughtful and critical thinking and decision making between a team, and not between an individual himself," he added.

When asked about not giving the employees a chance for due process before their termination, Sunga noted, “I don’t believe we did anything wrong. We are within our rights, and I encourage if the employee feels that we have violated their rights–then I encourage that employee to reach out to the Department of Labor and we can have that discussion following.”

In the meantime, the SIFA CEO says students are a top priority–many of whom started a petition to reinstate one of their teachers. They’re also planning a sit-in protest once school starts back up again after the holidays. 

“Our mission of the school is to provide academic excellence as well as a safe learning environment–so, as long as that’s not affected, then we encourage our students to take their right to speak," he said.

The online petition already garnering over 200 signatures. Still, Sunga  says it's too early to say whether the terminated teachers could be reinstated.

He issues this message to the SIFA community:  “We encourage discussion, but our mission is also to raise the standards. You have chosen our school and given us the honor to educate you to be that beacon you can follow as leaders. We hope we can provide that without bringing down the standards that we expect for all the family members at SIFA.”

Sunga also dispels rumors that sports have ceased at SIFA as a result of the situation.