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ALPENA — Ella White Elementary School could lose its chief administrator after allegations Principal Tom Berriman mishandled an incident involving a disruptive student.

Berriman faces a potential ouster if the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education votes to terminate him at an upcoming meeting. Berriman has been on non-disciplinary administrative leave since Nov. 16, he told The News.

The forced leave allegedly stemmed from an incident in which Berriman stopped a student’s disruptive behavior by physically pulling the student to him and carrying the student to an office.

Information about the incident became public this week after the dissemination of a letter written by Berriman’s wife.

David Rabbideau, Alpena Public Schools superintendent, declined to answer questions about the leave.

“Personnel matters are confidential. We respect the employee’s right to that confidentiality, so we don’t discuss them,” Rabbideau told The News on Thursday.

Though acknowledging via his wife’s letter that he could and perhaps should have handled the incident differently, “my actions do not warrant the most severe penalty our district has,” Berriman said in a text.

On Nov. 14, Berriman learned via a phone call from Rabbideau that he had been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave, officially beginning on Nov. 16.

He has not been asked to resign but was told his termination, for alleged “gross misconduct,” will be recommended to the Board at its Dec. 19 meeting, he told The News.

Three people from the district’s central office have served in his role during his absence, Berriman said.

According to meeting minutes, the Board went into closed session to discuss personnel matters at its Nov. 21 workshop meeting, shortly after Berriman was placed on leave. Minutes do not clarify what was discussed during the closed session.

Rabbideau would not comment on whether that discussion involved Berriman, or on whether the Board intends to vote on terminating him during the next meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 at Thunder Bay Junior High School.

Berriman will not voluntarily resign and elected to go in front of the board at the upcoming meeting to save his job and career, according to Berriman’s wife, Holly Berriman.

She shared information about her husband’s administrative leave in a message she sent to members of a moms group, who forwarded it to others. The message was shared with The News by another school family on Thursday.

An attorney advised the couple to limit their discussion about the incident, but Holly Berriman told The News that in early November, a second-grader with a pattern of disruptive and challenging behavior was lying in a hallway, kicking against lockers, when Berriman told the student to stop.

Berriman then pulled the student to him by a foot, picked the child up, and carried the child to an office under his arm.

District administrators discovered surveillance video footage of the alleged incident while looking at footage related to another incident involving the same student, according to Holly Berriman.

The child sustained no injuries and was reacting playfully while being carried, Holly Berriman said.

The child’s parent, with whom the Berrimans have a strong relationship, is supportive of Tom Berriman, but nobody from the district has contacted the parent, according to Holly Berriman.

In the video footage, shown to Berriman around the time of his placement on leave, his actions “don’t look good” because school officials and teachers are expected to control students without physical contact, Holly Berriman said.

Then again, she said, another student in the hallway at the time, who has a serious medical condition, could have died had she been struck by an out-of-control student, Holly Berriman said.

“It’s just one of those Catch-22 situations where you’re thinking on your feet and you’re doing what you can to protect the child and protect others, as well,” she said.

The incident occurred around the same time Berriman sent an email to district administrators letting them know that teachers were exhausted from dealing with ongoing disruptive behavior in classrooms, and that he was struggling with increased anxiety as a result.

According to Holly Berriman, the district did not respond with an offer to help Berriman address those mental health concerns but, instead, placed him on leave, telling Berriman he was a “liability,” according to her letter.

In October, Rabbideau said publicly that disruptive behavior at Alpena Public Schools was at an all-time high, with a record number of students sent to his office because of serious infractions.

Many of those behaviors stemmed from traumas experienced at home, Rabbideau told The News at the time.

On Thursday, he would not say whether teachers continue to struggle with disciplinary issues, but told The News that “What I told you last time is accurate.” He would not clarify further.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.