Tempe councilman fired from teaching; he denies allegations of misconduct with former students

A Tempe city councilman was fired from his teaching job last month after two former students alleged he gave them alcohol when they were under 21; and one said he made unwanted sexual advances toward her.

Councilman Kolby Granville was fired from Tempe Preparatory Academy after the school hired an attorney to investigate the complaints, according to records and emails obtained by The Arizona Republic under the Arizona Public Records Law. 

MORE: Tempe leaders react to misconduct allegations against Councilman Kolby Granville

School officials said Granville was terminated Dec. 21 for "breaching his Faculty Contract and for failing to comply with Tempe Prep's Employee Handbook and Code of Ethics."

The ages of the former students were not available. According to the school documents, both were graduates of the public charter school at the time the incidents allegedly occurred. 

In a statement, the school said: "We want to be clear that the reason for Mr. Granville’s termination has nothing to do with any known misconduct involving current students. We think it is important, however, to take allegations of any improper or unethical behavior seriously and to act swiftly, which we did in this case."

They declined to comment on details except to say that "we fully and thoroughly investigated the matter and reached the correct result." 

The 43-year-old Granville, who had worked at the school since January 2013, acknowledged that he had a friendship that turned into a relationship with one of the school’s former students, which he says began when she was in college.

But he denied the remainder of the allegations.

"Categorically, I’ve never provided alcohol underage to a minor, hands down," he told The Republic. 

Granville said he doesn't recall the events alleged by the second student and denies them.

The complaints come at a time when increasing numbers of women are coming forward across the country with allegations against men in powerful positions. The New York Times and the New Yorker published reports from women alleging decades of sexual harassment and assault by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the #MeToo movement has since unleashed claims ranging from inappropriate behavior to sexual assault.

First complaint: Provided alcohol on at least four occasions

Tempe Prep officials said they received the first complaint on Nov. 27 when an alum sent an email saying it was “of the utmost importance” to speak with the school’s headmaster about one of the faculty members.

The school would not release details of that meeting. But after the meeting with the former student the following day, the school hired an independent investigator within 24 hours to look into the allegations.

In a brief follow-up email between the former student and the school, she said Granville provided her with alcohol on at least four occasions while she was underage, including once when they spent the night in September 2016 in the same room at the Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

The school would not provide The Republic with a copy of the investigation and its findings, saying the document was protected by attorney-client privilege. The school provided copies of the two email complaints under the Arizona Public Records Law. 

Granville told The Republic he was in a consensual relationship with the former student, who he said was never a student in any of his classes. He denies providing her with alcohol when she was under 21. 

"I met her (when she was) an ASU student at a public event unrelated to education," he said. 

"We went out once and then, maybe a year later, started dating. We dated six months, and it didn't work out and I broke it off," he said. 

Second complaint: He 'insisted on getting me drinks even though I was underage'

Two days later, school officials said they received a second complaint from another former student, who said in an email she was “close friends” with the former student who made the first complaint.

“It is only after her bravery standing up that I now feel comfortable coming forward about my interactions with Mr. Granville,” the email said.

The former student said Granville was never her teacher, but she knew him from attending the school. She said he messaged her through Facebook about a month after she graduated, inviting her to join a summer running group. In September 2013, he invited her to see a movie. She didn’t attend either event, her email said.

He also invited her to see a jazz performance at Tempe Center for the Arts, which she accepted, and afterward at a party he “insisted on getting me drinks even though I was underage and new to drinking,” according to the email.

She said he put his hand on her leg and kissed her without consent at the party. 

The former student wrote she “reconnected” with Granville the summer of 2014, “during which he continued to purchase alcohol for me while I was underage and continued to flirt with me.”

In winter 2014, the email said, Granville invited her to go to San Francisco with him around New Year’s Eve, offering to pay for travel and expenses.

She agreed, and several weeks before the trip, he invited her over to his house where he gave her “multiple gin and cranberry cocktails," she wrote in the email to school officials. 

She told him she was too drunk to drive and asked if she could sleep on his couch.

“Mr. Granville remarked that I should instead sleep in his bed since it was warmer and more comfortable,” she wrote in the email.

Once in the bed, he moved closer to her and stuck a hand down her pants, she said. She said she told him to stop, but he didn’t remove his hand.

“I pulled his hand out of my pants, grabbed my things and ran to my car and broke down in tears over what happened,” she wrote in the email. 

The former student wrote that Granville asked her the next day if she still wanted to go to San Francisco, telling her, “it was unlikely I would ever get this chance again and I should take it.”

She told school officials she was persuaded to go with him to San Francisco and “no more advances were made after the trip.”

She lost contact with him after that but said she later spent time working on his campaign “where our relationship was more professional than personal.”

Granville said he was friends with the woman and her parents, but he has no recollection of the events she alleged. The first he became aware of the allegations was when the school questioned him during the investigation, he said. 

"I had never heard of them. I categorically deny them," he told The Republic.

He said the woman did not work on his campaign, or if she did "she was so far removed from me, I didn’t know it."

School officials declined to provide the students’ names, saying they wanted to protect the identity of the complainants. Neither former student could be reached by The Republic for comment. 

Granville's response: Complaint is 'payback for me breaking up with her'

Granville acknowledged to school officials in an email that he had a friendship with one of the former students that "turned into a relationship, " likely after the summer of 2016. 

He later ended the relationship, he said. But he contends she continued to contact him to try to persuade him to resume dating as recently as October 2017. 

Granville said in early November, he had posted on his Facebook page that he was in a new relationship with his current girlfriend.

“I have to assume, based on timing, it was shortly after she realized I was in a new relationship she came to the school to file a complaint," he said in the email. 

He told school officials in an email her complaint is “payback for me breaking up with her and realizing there is no chance for us to get back together. In that respect, well played, I guess,” he wrote.

Granville recently taught eighth-grade history at the school and 11th-grade Humane Letters, a teaching assignment that is a combination of American history and literature.

Granville was rated as an "effective" teacher in his last two evaluations with Tempe Prep, the second-highest of four ratings. 

An evaluation in September 2016 said that he had clear expectations and procedures for students to follow and posed interesting questions to the class that allowed them to think more deeply. 

In a routine anonymous survey of students in May 2017 that is conducted of all teachers at Tempe Prep, some raised concerns about inappropriate comments.   

"Mr. Granville makes comments about the appearance of women that make me, as a teenage girl feel self-conscious, nervous, and uncomfortable," one student wrote. "Sometimes I feel Mr. Granville thinks he is a teenager and tries to be hip and cool, but it backfires."

Granville said he doesn't recall making comments that would make female students uncomfortable. 

“I will make the usual comments of 'Oh, you got a haircut,' or whatever, but it’s not exclusive to boys or girls in the classes,” he said.

Granville said that since being fired, he has received lots of support.

"I have a dozen emails from students and parents after I left saying I’m the greatest teacher they’ve ever had," he said. 

'If you’re going to fire me, fire me'

The 425-student Tempe Preparatory Academy serves grades six through 12 and is so popular that school officials use a “lottery system” for new admissions. Tempe Prep is consistently among the top five schools in the state for the percentage of students who go onto college and earn bachelor's degrees. 

The day before he was fired, Dec. 20, Granville posted on his Facebook page a picture of him in an educational promotion for Expect More Arizona, a non-profit, educational advocacy group.

The promotion reads: 

"I have a BA in Secondary Education, an M.Ed. in Educational Technology and a law degree. I make $43,000 a year teaching. After inflation, I make less money now than when I started teaching five years ago. Teacher pay matters because you want people who love teaching to be able to afford to do the job they love. The world doesn't need more lawyers." 

On the morning of Dec. 21, school officials sent him an email, asking him to come to the headmaster's office before he left for the day. 

The school did not release details on the meeting.

Granville said he talked with the headmaster and the attorney and then the school gave him some options. 

“I said, 'If you’re going to fire me, fire me,' and they did.”

That afternoon, the school sent a one-paragraph email from the headmaster to families, informing them that Granville would not be returning to teach for the second semester. 

"We wish him good luck in his future endeavors. We will immediately begin recruiting Mr. Granville's replacement." 

The email did not say why Granville was not returning. 

In a statement to The Republic, Tempe Prep Board member Chad Sampson said he fully supports the administration's decision. 

"No school administrator should have to deal with allegations of misconduct by teachers, but when confronted with this difficult situation, Tempe Prep’s headmaster and his team performed their duties with grace, speed and professionalism and in accordance with the law," he said. 

Granville posted on his personal Facebook page on Jan. 6 that he had started a new job as an attorney at a Phoenix law firm. 

"While I have loved my time teaching at Tempe Prep, I am very excited to start a new chapter in my life working as an attorney again doing major felony defense work. Feel free to contact me if you, or someone you know, is facing 10+ years in jail. Hopefully, I will never hear from you," he wrote.

In an interview with The Republic, Granville said he loves teaching and thinks it's a great job. 

"It’s the one thing I’ve done in my whole life that I both love doing and have a natural ability for," he said. "I was very disappointed I wouldn’t get to teach at the school anymore."

School officials said the recent complaints involving Granville weren’t reported to law enforcement under a state reporting statute because the former students weren't minors and there was no immediate danger.  

If a school believes a teacher certified in Arizona has engaged in unprofessional conduct, they can report the behavior to the Arizona Department of Education. That did not apply in this case because Granville is no longer a certified teacher in Arizona. He wasn't required to be certified to teach at Tempe Prep because it's a charter school — a public school that is free of many of the governmental restrictions on traditional schools.

Outspoken Tempe council member

Granville, first elected to the Tempe City Council in 2012, is known for being active in neighborhood associations and isn't shy about voting contrary to his colleagues on the council. 

He was the only council member to vote against a recent controversial $21 million tax break to bring a hotel and conference center to Tempe. 

Within the last year, Granville has received two letters of reprimand from the city, one for using a profane term in a zoning debate with a staff member and another for calling a constituent a name on social media.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Granville’s termination at the school could result in disciplinary action by the city.

Tempe’s employee handbook states that an employee can face discipline if he or she is "engaged in conduct, on or off duty, that is of such a nature that it causes discredit to the City." 

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com and jerod.macdonald@republicmedia.com.

READ MORE:

Taxpayers pay $20K because Tempe politician called a constituent names

An expletive gets Tempe Councilman Kolby Granville in hot water

Tempe city attorney: No conflict of interest in Councilman Kolby Granville's vote