Community Invited to Meet New ROHS Principal after Michael Greening Placed on Leave

A reception to introduce new interim Principal Jim Moll to the community is scheduled for 7-8 p.m. Tuesday in the high school media center. Moll steps in to replace Michael Greening, who was placed on paid administrative leave.

Superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin sent a letter to the school's roughly 1,500 students and their families last Thursday saying Greening – a longtime Royal Oak resident and educator –

"The concerns are about potential irregularities in the high school activity fund, which is a fund which includes accounts for the various high school activities and clubs," Lewis-Lakin said. "Athletic funds is a separate fund."  

A police report was filed and an investigation is in its beginning stages, Royal Oak Police Lt. Thomas Goad confirmed Thursday.

The police and superintendent could not comment on specifics because of the ongoing investigation.  

Interim principal introduced to community

Moll, who served in the Birmingham Public Schools district for more than 38 years before he retired in June, will begin serving as interim principal Tuesday morning when classes resume after the holiday break that began at the end of the school day Dec. 16, the same day Greening was placed on leave.

"We are very fortunate to have secured the services of Mr. Moll,” Lewis-Lakin said. "His experience and his commitment to students and their success will serve us well.”

School officials looked outside the district for an interim principal because they did not want to compromise any of the district’s buildings or areas of work.

“All current staff are fully committed to and engaged in their current assignments,” Lewis-Lakin said. “We did not want to pull anyone from their existing duties."

The principal assignment cuts short Moll's retirement plans. Before stepping down in June, he served a six-year tenure as principal of . Before coming to Berkshire, Moll spent four years as the dean of students at , 13 years running Birmingham's Experiential Learning Center and eight years as a crisis counselor. Before that, Moll taught English and theater at Groves and Berkshire.

Choosing retirement was a battle between his head and his heart, Moll told . A state retirement incentive made the move financially opportune, yet Moll said it was difficult to leave his students.

"For a while, I wasn't ready to take that step (and retire),” he said in April.

Fun facts about the new interim principal

• Moll told Birmingham Patch he's a "frustrated actor" and regularly acts as part of the Farmington Players.
• One of Moll's favorite career moments includes teaching Sam Raimi, director of the Spider-Man films. "Each stage in my career have had these types of moments," he said in April.
• Before retiring, Moll said he’d been asked to supervise student teachers at Oakland University and work with the University of Michigan adventure education program.

Some students go green

While members of the community get their chance to meet the new principal Tuesday evening, there are plans to show student support for Greening at the high school Tuesday.

“Save Greening,” a Facebook page backing the embattled principal, was started to provide a forum for people to leave positive comments and to make the statement “innocent until proven guilty," according to information provided on the site.

In a short period of time, “Save Greening” has amassed more than 200 followers. One of the ideas to come out of the Facebook forum is for students to wear green to school to demonstrate their support.

From 'Save Greening':

• Susan Johnson Abraham: “If you agree with the idea of innocent until proven guilty, please wear green on Tuesday."
• Kristin Collick: “Don’t forget ROHS students to wear green starting Jan. 3 to show your support for Mr. Greening."
• Terri Garrett: "I don't think there has ever been an administrator at this HS who has cared more about the students than Mr. Greening. This is a huge mistake."
• Jake Adkin: "Every one is INNOCENT unless proven otherwise. I will hold his integrity and character right where it should be! I really hope the admin has the facts straight, otherwise they have ruined the reputation of a good man, and lets not forget he has a family! Not sure why all this info has been released when nothing has been proven yet. Let's all be respectful to him and his family during this."