Interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness has fired the student services chair at Glover School, Ann Haskell, months after a student restraint incident. Haskell is now suing McGuinness, the School Committee and the Marblehead Public School district claiming wrongful termination and breach of contract.
McGuinness placed Haskell and three other educators at Glover on paid leave late last year, during an investigation of a Nov. 20 student restraint incident. A heavily redacted, 54-page investigative report detailed the incident and made recommendations that all staff be trained and/or retrained in safety procedures. At least one of the recommendations was redacted.
Haskell is “very disappointed and disheartened about the way this whole incident has been handled by the administration of the Marblehead Public Schools, and she feels that the four of them (Haskell and three other educators), collectively, have been hung out to dry for the purposes of letting the administration wipe their hands of this very unfortunate incident for a student who never should have been mainstreamed without an IEP,” Haskell’s attorney, Neil Rossman, told the Current.
Rossman also said the investigative report recommended that the other three Glover educators not be fired or disciplined, but that one of them be removed from the Safety-Care team that responds to student incidents.
Haskell, a career educator who lives in Nahant, had worked in MPS since October 2022. According to the complaint, she was filling in as principal at Glover on Nov. 20 when the student restraint occurred.
McGuinness notified Haskell on March 1 that she intended to fire her “based on conduct unbecoming an employee, incompetence and untruthfulness” and scheduled a March 14 meeting with Haskell and her attorney, according to the complaint.
On March 19, McGuinness wrote to Haskell, “After your statements and the statements of your attorney at the March 14th meeting and all of the information before me, I have decided to dismiss you from your position.”
According to Haskell’s complaint filed in Essex Superior Court, she was “exonerated” by the expert witness hired by Comprehensive Investigations and Consulting, which looked into the restraint incident.
The complaint quotes the report saying, “The finding in this incident is that Ms. Haskell did not violate the rules and regulations of the Marblehead Public Schools knowingly or with reason to know.”
According to the complaint, the report continues, “No disciplinary action should be taken against Ms. Haskell.”
The CIC report and Haskell’s complaint both describe the Nov. 20 incident. A student at recess complained of being cold, and a teacher brought him inside to find warmer clothing in the lost-and-found area. The student asked to go to the nurse and headed toward the place where medication is stored. When the teacher tried to redirect him outside, the student became “aggressive,” and educators trained in Safety-Care techniques were called in.
According to the complaint, the student punched a teacher in the face and tried to ascend the main stairway leading up to the second floor. Haskell, who is not trained in Safety-Care, says she was asked to retrieve a blue mat, which she did. The mat was used by educators to contain the student and prevent him from hurting himself and others.
The CIC report found that the educators violated safety procedures by using the mat and dragging the student for a brief time during what is called a “reverse transport.” A reverse transport is when two people place their hands under the student’s arms and walk him backwards.
The student was brought to a “break room” where he began to cough and vomit. Teachers retrieved something from the nurse’s office, which he was able to “self-administer.” (The details here are redacted.)
Rossman said Haskell is the only one of the four educators placed on leave who is not a member of the teachers union and does not have the same protections.
The complaint adds that Haskell’s four supervisors all resigned or announced their decision to leave after the incident. They include then-Glover Principal Hope Doran, former student services director Paula Donnelly and assistant director Emily Dean; and McGuinness, who notified the School Committee in January that she no longer wanted to be considered for the full-time superintendent position.
“Each of these four named administrators have resigned or sent notice of their intention to leave the school system rather than face public scrutiny for their failures in training, educating and setting administrative policies to have supported the educators in situations such as occurred here,” the complaint reads.
The complaint also alleges that McGuinness’ actions were taken “with the tacit approval of the defendant Marblehead School Committee.”
Haskell is asking for a jury trial. She has not specified how much she would be seeking in damages, but the complaint requests compensation for lost wages and benefits, including health insurance, compensation for future lost wages and benefits, and compensation for emotional distress and public humiliation and embarrassment.
McGuinness and School Committee Chair Sarah Fox did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Editor Leigh Blander is an experienced TV, radio and print journalist.