Kathy Demas's Reported Firing Sparks Public Outcry

What happened: On April 7, 2026, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy's Board of Directors heard an extraordinary series of public comments concerning longtime employee Kathy Demas and the future of Gryphon Kids Club. Parents, former colleagues, and community members described Demas as a dedicated educator and advocate for children whose contributions extended well beyond her regular employment responsibilities. Several speakers questioned her recent departure, which was described during public comment as a firing. Others appealed to the Board to reconsider a decision affecting Gryphon Kids Club, an after-school and summer program serving TJCA families. The meeting's official minutes document the concerns of former educators, parents whose children attended the club, and community members familiar with its programming. Demas herself addressed the Board, reflecting on the Academy's history and stating that she had devoted 17 years of service to TJCA. She also reported that Gryphon Kids Club had been financially self-sufficient for the preceding three years. The controversy was particularly striking because the Academy had recently presented the club as an active and successful program. On December 2, 2025, TJCA's Board minutes identified Demas among the returning staff expected to operate another summer camp. On February 3, 2026, the Grammar School reported that approximately 50 children were already registered for the upcoming camp, with additional promotional efforts planned. Yet by April, parents were urging the Board to reverse a decision they believed threatened the program's continuation. The documented issue was no longer simply the departure of a longtime employee. It had become a dispute over the future of a valued children's program and the administration's decision-making.

What was established:

Kathy Demas's longstanding relationship with TJCA

Demas had an established relationship with Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy long before the April 2026 controversy. TJCA's March 2023 Strategic Plan identifies her among the faculty, staff, and administrators who contributed to the development of the Academy's institutional goals.

Her involvement in that process documents a role extending beyond ordinary classroom or transportation duties. A publicly indexed professional profile also identified her work at TJCA as including teacher assistant and bus driver responsibilities. The duration of her service was subsequently confirmed through her own remarks to the Board. According to the April 7, 2026 minutes, Demas stated that she had served the Academy for 17 years. She also noted that two of her children had graduated from TJCA. Those details establish the depth of her connection to the institution. Demas was not a recently hired employee whose relationship with the school was limited to one position or academic year. She had spent much of TJCA's institutional history working within the school community, raising children who attended it, and participating in activities that supported families beyond the regular instructional day.

Gryphon Kids Club provided more than basic after-school supervision

The school's records establish that Gryphon Kids Club was an operating TJCA program with activities extending beyond routine childcare. Its programming included after-school care, summer camp, and community service. The December 5, 2023 Board minutes document Gryphon Kids Club serving a Thanksgiving meal at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Rutherfordton on November 22 of that year. The service project is an important example of the club's activities outside the classroom. Rather than functioning solely as a place for children to wait until parents finished work, the program provided opportunities for supervised community engagement.

Later Board records document summer-camp planning and participation in school events.

At the April 2026 meeting, community supporter Anne Ware described the club's educational and creative activities. According to the minutes, Ware reported that children's artwork produced through Gryphon Kids Club had been published in a national publication for young artists because of Demas's efforts. Ware also praised the care, encouragement, and attention students received through the program. Her statements portrayed Gryphon Kids Club as a place where children were encouraged to develop their interests, creativity, and confidence. The published minutes do not identify the art publication, but Ware's account provides a specific lead for documenting the program's educational accomplishments.

December 2025: TJCA plans another summer camp with returning staff

At its December 2, 2025 Board meeting, TJCA reported preparations for the upcoming Gryphon Kids Club summer camp. The Grammar School report stated that registration would begin on New Year's Day. It also identified Demas among the employees expected to return for the summer. The school expressed optimism about another successful camp season. That announcement is particularly significant because it places Demas within the anticipated staffing arrangements for the 2026 summer program. As late as December 2025, the Academy was publicly planning for the continuation of the club's activities and the participation of returning staff. There was no indication in that report that Gryphon Kids Club was approaching discontinuation.

February 2026: Approximately 50 children registered for summer camp

The February 3, 2026 Board minutes provide additional evidence of the program's activity shortly before the employment dispute became public. Donna Trimble's Grammar School report described summer-camp registration as progressing successfully. Approximately 50 campers had already registered. The Academy planned to promote the camp through a display at its kindergarten information fair and additional social media publicity during February, March, and April. The program was therefore being actively advertised to families. The reported enrollment also demonstrates that families had expressed substantial interest in the summer program well before the end of the school year. Just two months before parents appealed to save Gryphon Kids Club, TJCA was publicly reporting strong registration and promoting the camp's continued operation. This sequence makes the timing of the later dispute especially important.

What changed between February and April?

April 7, 2026: Former colleagues publicly defend Demas

The most substantial documentary evidence concerning the controversy appears in TJCA's April 7 Board minutes. Kristen Stearns, who reported teaching alongside Demas for nine years, addressed the Board about Demas's contributions. According to the minutes, Stearns highlighted Demas's involvement in Gryphon Kids Club and summer camp, her volunteer work at athletic events and fundraisers, and her broader community presence. She also referred to other teachers who had left the Academy. Her remarks placed Demas's departure within concerns about the loss of experienced employees and the relationships they had built with students and families.

Another former educator, Greg Stearns, questioned whether the Academy had treated Demas appropriately. He specifically referenced TJCA Policy 2180, which addresses expectations of professional conduct and courtesy. The minutes record that Stearns questioned whether the procedures used in a recent firing had complied with those expectations. He also invoked honesty and emphasized Demas's longstanding contributions to students. The remarks are significant because they challenged not only the outcome of the personnel decision but the manner in which it had been reached and communicated.

Susie King questions the school's treatment of employees facing dismissal

Susie King, a speech-language pathologist who reported 40 years of professional experience and six years at TJCA, also addressed the Board. King described concerns about changes in the school's working environment. She questioned whether TJCA had a process that allowed employees to respond to mistakes or performance concerns before being dismissed. She compared the treatment of employees with the Academy's approach to student behavior.

In her remarks, King referenced the importance of clear expectations, predictable consequences, intervention, relationship-building, and positive reinforcement. Her questions went beyond one individual's employment circumstances. They concerned whether the Academy applied the same principles of fairness and constructive correction to its employees that educators were expected to apply when working with children. King's testimony is particularly notable because it framed employee dismissal as a matter of institutional culture. If TJCA emphasizes correction, accountability, and the opportunity for improvement in educating children, King questioned whether employees receive comparable consideration when their own work is judged.

Parents urge the Board to protect a program their children rely upon

The April 7 meeting also included direct testimony from parents whose children attended Gryphon Kids Club. Candice Porter described the program as an exceptionally positive experience for her family. She praised its summer programming and characterized Demas as an integral part of both the club and the surrounding community. Kristina Gosnell likewise addressed the Board as a parent of a child attending Gryphon Kids Club. Gosnell emphasized that the club served a relatively small portion of TJCA families. According to the minutes, she estimated its participation at approximately 3% of the school's families. But she argued that the small size of the program did not diminish its importance. For the families who relied upon it, the club was an essential part of their relationship with the school. Gosnell urged Board members to reconsider the decision affecting the program. Her testimony identifies an important issue in evaluating extracurricular and childcare services. A program can serve a relatively small number of students while remaining indispensable to those families. After-school care can influence parents' employment arrangements, transportation, childcare expenses, and ability to remain enrolled at a particular school. The number of families participating therefore does not fully capture the effect of discontinuing the service.

Community supporters describe educational and artistic accomplishments

Anne Ware, identified in the minutes as a friend of TJCA, Demas, and Gryphon Kids Club, spoke about the program's contributions to children. Ware described the club as a nurturing environment and credited Demas with helping students achieve recognition through an outside publication for young artists. She also questioned what would happen to children participating in drama and other after-school activities if the program ended. Jennifer Hoskins, who described herself as a newer member of the community, similarly praised Demas. According to the minutes, Hoskins said Demas had helped attract her to TJCA and urged the school to continue Gryphon Kids Club and its summer camp. Amanda Strickland, another parent, spoke about the strengths of Demas's work while raising broader concerns that TJCA was moving away from its original classical educational approach. She called upon the Academy to protect employees like Demas.

These statements reveal that the controversy extended beyond the families directly enrolled in after-school care. Former colleagues, parents, and community members viewed Demas as someone whose work embodied qualities they believed were important to TJCA's identity.

Demas tells the Board the club had been self-sufficient for three years

Demas herself addressed the April 7 meeting. The minutes record that she reflected on the school's history, her 17 years of service, and her family's connection to TJCA. They also summarize her assertion that Gryphon Kids Club had been financially self-sufficient for the preceding three years. That statement is important because it introduces a financial dimension to the controversy.

If the program was covering its expenses, its proposed discontinuation would require an explanation beyond the assumption that the club had become financially unsustainable. The school's published Board minutes provide additional financial context. At the same April meeting, TJCA's Finance Committee reported that proceeds from school clubs were ordinarily carried forward between fiscal years. However, the minutes do not identify which clubs generated those proceeds or establish a separate income-and-expense statement for Gryphon Kids Club.

Demas's assertion of self-sufficiency therefore offers a specific claim that could be evaluated against the program's actual financial records. The important unanswered financial question is whether TJCA intended to discontinue a program that was meeting its own operating costs—and, if so, what considerations led to that decision. The April Board minutes do not record an administrative explanation addressing that question.

The Board hears the appeals but records no public resolution

The April 7 minutes document the public comments at considerable length. They do not, however, record a substantive response from Board members concerning Demas's employment or the proposed discontinuation of Gryphon Kids Club. The meeting subsequently moved through its regular reports and business. Under new business, no item concerning the club was recorded.

The Board later entered a closed session under provisions of North Carolina's Open Meetings Law, including a personnel-related provision. After returning to open session, the minutes state that no reportable action was taken. There is no documented public motion in those minutes reversing a decision about the club, approving its closure, or establishing a replacement program. Consequently, the official record preserves the community's objections far more extensively than it explains the Academy's decision.

May 5: Demas returns to question Board transparency

The controversy did not mark the end of Demas's public participation in TJCA governance. At the May 5, 2026 Board meeting, she again addressed the directors. This time, her remarks concerned the process for selecting new Board members. The official minutes record Demas questioning whether the Academy had adequately publicized opportunities to apply for Board positions. She also expressed concern about the application process and the Personnel and Policy Committee's role in identifying prospective directors. Demas asked for greater transparency about which Board members would be leaving and how new candidates would be selected. Her appearance demonstrates that she continued engaging with the institution's governance after the April public-comment session.

June 2: Community advocacy for the club continues

The June 2, 2026 Board minutes establish that questions about Gryphon Kids Club had not disappeared. Anne Ware returned to public comment and again appealed for the program's continuation. According to the minutes, Ware urged TJCA to allow staff members to continue operating Gryphon Kids Club. She also addressed the distinction between reasons and excuses and referred to liability as a consideration that organizations must routinely manage. The minutes do not identify an official explanation from TJCA concerning liability or establish that such concerns formed the basis of the administration's decision. Ware's remarks nevertheless demonstrate that supporters remained concerned about the club's future nearly two months after the April meeting. The June minutes do not record a Board vote resolving the matter.

Why the incident matters: The Kathy Demas and Gryphon Kids Club controversy raises questions about more than the termination of one employee. The official record documents an established school program, recognized contributions to children, favorable registration figures, a longtime employee's claimed financial self-sufficiency, and a substantial community response to decisions apparently threatening both the employee's position and the program's continuation. TJCA's own records establish the following sequence: a longstanding employee and program were recognized as valuable; the Academy planned another summer camp with returning staff; registration proceeded successfully; and then families and colleagues appeared before the Board to protest a dismissal and plead for the club's survival. The Academy's publicly available minutes do not explain what caused that reversal. That absence matters because Gryphon Kids Club served children and families who had built routines and relationships around the program.

For those families, the question was not simply whether a school had authority to make a personnel or programmatic change. It was why an apparently functioning and valued service faced discontinuation, what alternatives were being offered, and whether the affected community had been meaningfully consulted. The strongest finding is that TJCA's own records document both the program's success and the community's resistance to its threatened loss, but provide no comparable public explanation of the decisions that prompted the controversy.

Original evidence:

• TJCA Board Minutes — April 7, 2026. The principal source documenting public testimony by Kathy Demas, former colleagues, parents, and community supporters; references to a recent firing; appeals to preserve Gryphon Kids Club and summer camp; and Demas's assertion of 17 years of service and three years of program self-sufficiency.

• TJCA Board Minutes — June 2, 2026. Records Anne Ware's subsequent appeal to allow staff to continue running Gryphon Kids Club.

• TJCA Board Minutes — May 5, 2026. Documents Demas's continued participation in Board meetings and questions about the transparency of Board member selection.

• TJCA Board Minutes — February 3, 2026. Grammar School report confirming approximately 50 summer-camp registrations and planned promotion of the program.

• TJCA Board Minutes — December 2, 2025. Identifies Demas among returning summer-camp staff and announces plans to open summer registration on January 1.

• TJCA Board Minutes — December 5, 2023. Records Gryphon Kids Club's November 22 community-service activity at St. Francis Episcopal Church.

• TJCA Strategic Plan — March 2023. Names Demas among school personnel participating in the development of the Academy's strategic plan.

• TJCA Gryphon Kids Club Summer Camp webpage. School-maintained page linking to summer-camp registration, payment, and the parent handbook.

• Gryphons Kids Club Parent Handbook. School-linked program document relevant to the club's stated policies and operation.

Subsequent development: Following the April 7 Board meeting, Demas returned to public comment on May 5 to question the transparency of TJCA's Board appointment process. On June 2, Anne Ware renewed the public appeal for Gryphon Kids Club, asking that staff be allowed to continue operating the program. The school's August 4, 2026 Board minutes do not record a subsequent decision concerning Demas or Gryphon Kids Club. As of October 2026, TJCA's public website continues to link to its Gryphon Kids Club summer-camp page, registration form, payment form, and parent handbook. The 2026 summer registration and payment forms are marked closed. The registration page also directs visitors toward a waitlist. These web pages remain evidence of how TJCA administered the program, but their present status does not establish whether the 2026 summer camp proceeded as originally planned or whether Gryphon Kids Club continued into the 2026–2027 academic year. Separately, the Cleveland County YMCA's 2026–2027 after-school program lists TJCA among the schools it serves, with arrangements for transportation to YMCA programming. That listing should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that the YMCA replaced Gryphon Kids Club. TJCA students had access to YMCA after-school services before the April 2026 controversy. The most important unresolved developments concern the actual fate of the club and the circumstances of Demas's dismissal. The April minutes document references to a firing, including questions about whether it was handled courteously, but do not provide a personnel notice, the precise termination date, or the Academy's stated reasons. Likewise, the minutes document community objections to a decision affecting Gryphon Kids Club without preserving an official closure announcement, effective date, or explanation of whether the decision was subsequently reconsidered. TJCATruth.com is particularly interested in the original communication to families concerning Gryphon Kids Club's future; records documenting whether the 2026 summer camp proceeded; the program's historical financial statements; and any Board or administrative decisions explaining its continuation, reorganization, or discontinuation. These records would help establish what ultimately happened to the children, families, and employees affected by the dispute.

Report from the community: The April 7, 2026 Board minutes preserve an unusually substantial collection of firsthand testimony concerning Demas and Gryphon Kids Club. Former colleague Kristen Stearns described working alongside Demas for nine years and highlighted her contributions to educational programming, athletic events, fundraising, and the wider community. Greg Stearns questioned whether the handling of a recent firing satisfied TJCA's own expectations of courtesy and honesty. Speech-language pathologist Susie King raised broader concerns about the dismissal of employees and whether the school provided opportunities for correction and improvement before employment was terminated. Parents Candice Porter and Kristina Gosnell spoke about the importance of Gryphon Kids Club to their families. Porter praised the summer program and Demas's involvement. Gosnell emphasized that the club's relatively small participation rate did not diminish the importance of the service to the families who relied upon it. Community supporter Anne Ware described children's artistic accomplishments and raised concerns about what would happen to students participating in drama and other after-school activities. Jennifer Hoskins likewise described Demas as a positive representative of TJCA and appealed for the continuation of Gryphon Kids Club and summer camp. Amanda Strickland called upon TJCA to protect valued employees while expressing concerns about broader changes in the school's educational direction. Demas herself described her 17 years of service and stated that the club had operated without requiring additional financial support for three years. These accounts collectively demonstrate the depth of concern surrounding the decisions affecting Demas and Gryphon Kids Club. The testimony was not limited to a single complaint about employment. Speakers described the educational, social, artistic, and practical value of a program they believed the Academy was in danger of losing. The June 2 minutes provide further firsthand testimony from Ware, confirming that the concern persisted beyond the original meeting.

The record would benefit from direct accounts from Demas, the program's other employees, and parents who received communications about its anticipated closure or restructuring.

Particularly valuable would be testimony concerning how staff and families learned of the changes, whether previously registered children were able to attend summer camp, what alternatives were offered, and whether a formal explanation was provided. Individuals with relevant firsthand experiences are encouraged to contact TJCATruth.com. Requests for anonymity will be respected, and identifying information will not be published without the contributor's explicit consent. All submissions will be handled with discretion and confidentiality.