Melrose faces second civil rights violation allegation
By Steven A. Rosenberg Globe Staff September 18, 2015
A former Melrose teacher has filed a federal complaint against the Melrose public schools, alleging that she was fired in June for refusing a supervisor’s request to separate a group of black students who regularly sat together in her class.
“I was told that I needed to separate them because they were not allowed to sit next to each other because they were black,” said Kristen McCarthy, who taught art and photography for three years at Melrose High School before she was denied tenure in June and terminated.
Superintendent Cyndy S. Taymore did not respond to an interview request and Mayor Robert Dolan, who also serves on the School Committee, declined to comment on the investigation of the complaint by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. City Solicitor Robert Van Campen said the complaint lacks credibility. “The district feels there is no basis for this complaint,” he said.
This marks the second time in less than a year that the Melrose school system has been investigated by the Office for Civil Rights. Earlier this month, Taymore acknowledged that the Office for Civil Rights had determined the school district had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That complaint charges that a middle school teacher made derogatory remarks about a student’s race during the 2013-14 school year, and that the district had failed to adequately respond to those remarks, leading to a “racially hostile environment.”
To date, the Office of Civil Rights has not issued a final report of its findings or penalized the Melrose district on that violation.
Melrose student found to be harassed based on race
The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has determined a Melrose middle school student “had been subjected to harassment based on race” in 2014.
In the second complaint, McCarthy alleged that she was first approached by Deborah DiFruscia, the district’s director of visual and performing arts, and was told last winter to separate the African-American students and reassign them to sit next to white students.
“It was initially a verbal request and I explained to her that I was not going to comply with that because I thought that was discrimination to move them just solely based on the color of their skin,” McCarthy said.
DiFruscia could not be reached for comment.
McCarthy said she was instructed verbally by DiFruscia at least three times to move the black students and each time she declined. She also declined an order to reorganize the student seating into a U-shape, because her students spent most of their time in the darkroom and studio of her classroom and that rearranging the seating would reduce the size of those processing areas, she said.
McCarthy said she was denied tenure and fired after she received a “needs improvement” assessment from Taymore for not rearranging the seating. McCarthy, who has taught for 11 years, is currently unemployed.
School Committee member Carrie Kourkoumelis called the investigation deeply disturbing and said she awaited the results of the federal probe.
“I think that it is pretty evident that there are serious administrative problems in the schools. Education should be a safe zone where the highest values are exemplified,” she said.
Steven A. Rosenberg can be reached at srosenberg@globe.com.
"This marks the second time in less than a year that the Melrose school system has been investigated by the Office for Civil Rights. Earlier this month, Taymore acknowledged that the Office for Civil Rights had determined the school district had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That complaint charges that a middle school teacher made derogatory remarks about a student’s race during the 2013-14 school year, and that the district had failed to adequately respond to those remarks, leading to a “racially hostile environment.”"
Agree: "deeply disturbing" and quite probably very damaging financially, also
"Education should be a safe zone where the highest values are exemplified”
It's past time that this community get its educational house and the local governance in order.
This "hot zip code" obviously has very deep-seated and pervasive problems that cannot be whitewashed away no matter how hard it would like to do just that.
School Comm June 9
https://vimeo.com/130280109
The situation surrounding the 2nd OCR case:
at 5:00
art teacher Kristin McCarthy
KThorp tries to shut her down, as per usual
KMcarthy: concluding a passionate and articulate statement, [if these practices continue,] "Who will be left to teach our children?"
student Isabella White @ 10:45 so articulate, profound
"....heard a voice comparing art to hula hoops...she's taught me so many live lessons that I can't count the number on my hands...The Art Program itself has grown because of Ms. McCarthy...because of her willingness and drive to make it better than it was the previous day...Her personality is contagious as well as her motivation...Ms. McCarthy will always be a teacher no matter what happens to her job...Her role in my life as a role model and an art teacher will forever be ingrained in my heart. She has changed me in the most positive ways, and I cannot thank her enough."
Thanks to Ms. McCarthy and these brave students for bringing the insidious nature of this school administration to the attention of the Office of Civil Rights. The Melrose Community supports you fully against these tyrants. Despite knowing the potential risks of retaliation (so prevalent with the current administration/school committee/ Mayor's office/ city solicitor's office)they have acted bravely on behalf of our entire community.
Melrose group hug for these heroes!
Agree. I have said it before, the overwhelming majority of the teachers mean well for our students. This is all about an ethics crisis within the highest reaches of the superintendent's office, individual school administrative staffs (some, not all), mayor's office, city solicitor's office, and school committee. Time will hopefully heal these deep wounds inflicted upon our children and community by these individuals.
Forget getting any support from the BOA....most of them are beholding to the Mayor - corruption at the highest level.
According to its Mission Statement, one of the goals of METCO is to "increase diversity" and "reduce racial isolation".
Having the black students being able sit together in class is counterproductive and should not have been permitted. I bet METCO would not consder it "racism". Hardly worthy of a civil suit.
Sorry, "Critic" but this isn't a logical interpretation or a fair one. You have a wrong idea about METCO, also.
First, this isn't about a "civil suit," but rather a federal investigation, or two actually. The first one has already yielded a finding that the school district was guilty of violating the civil rights of students. This is a very serious matter, as surely you would agree.
Second, no one would ever presume to separate white students sitting together in a place like Melrose, and there was certainly no rules about any of that (and it would have been absurd and wrong to create any). This was a case of a truly incomprehensibly dumb department chair (hired with zero administrative experience by the super who is too prideful to admit she is not competent when it comes to hiring or managing her staff) "evaluating" a teacher negatively on entirely specious and quite obviously illegal, racist grounds, and then a super unwilling to back the teacher instead of the wrong-headed chair.
Glad someone responded to that earlier posting appropriately - ignorance is bliss in Melrose and some are in absolute ecstasy!
Indeed. What "Critic" seems to be saying is that it's okay to commit a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act if it promotes "diversity". Apparently he/she doesn't realize we needed the 1964 CRA for that very reason. Critic's oxymoronic logic escapes me.
The Critic doesn't seem to understand that it is unlawful under state and federal education laws and civil rights laws to retaliate against ANYONE who files a complaint of ANY KIND including a possible civil rights violation. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER THE COMPLAINANT IS RIGHT OR WRONG; THEY ARE PERMITTED TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITHOUT FEAR OF RETALIATION OR INTIMIDATION.
The unlawful retaliation and intimidation tactics of this administration is why The Office of Civil Rights is going after the District's top administrators.
I agree that the teacher should not have been fired for filing a complaint per se. If, however, she was fired because
she refused to separate the black students to meet METCO's desire for avoiding "racial isolation" in the classrrom, that's another story.
Can you possibly imagine what it is like to come into the MPS from such a different environment? The courage to come into a suburban district like Melrose, travel hours per day from neighborhoods plagued by poverty and violence should be respected and applauded. What must it be like to be surrounded by the kids of the entitled MEF parents? In a class where creativity, emotions and identity would be intrinsically part of the curiculum, it would be understandable that you might like to sit where you felt included and accepted. "The Critic", why don't you step outside your comfort zone !!!!
Some of you will agree with what is here tonight, and some of you will disagree, we all have an opinion. And they're all good opinions, good night to you all .For "The Critic",
Just want to clarify that OCR is investigating because Melrose Schools Administration retaliated against a complainant, a violation of civil rights law. It's what they do, remember?
You still don't get it, do you? METCO's purpose is not avoiding racial isolation in a specific classroom. It's purpose is avoiding racial isolation in society. Duh!
If you see something, say something. If you don't you are part of the problem. You can't live in fear of retaliation. We all need to do our part to cleanse our city of all this hate. I will not sit on the sidelines which is why I reported what I knew to the OCR on May 20, 2015, before her termination. As I work for MPS I knew what could come next. This needed to be on record. I did not know Ms. McCarthy. I only knew what was being said to her was racial and her refusal to comply would result in negative action. With her MTA rep being none other than Naomi Baline (the plantation teacher), Ms. McCarthy needed someone on her side.
Good for you, Ms. Dillon. Many of us thank you for your courage in standing up to this wrong-doing and coverup.
The people of Melrose thank you Ms. Dillon for your bravery. We don’t often see this kind of courage. I hope this is a real post and not from someone that is trying to target you. If this is really you, I cannot express in words alone the service you have provided to this community. You are truly a hero and a teacher that we value. If only more would come forward.
You know me. I'm a former Title Examiner from Mdsx. South. I am not a teacher, well not in the traditional sense. I am a Ctf Braille Transcriber/para for students and union officer for paras/ABAs/OTs under the MTA.
OMG! I know exactly who you are my friend! You come from a long line of very compassionate and caring people like Colby. Always putting others before themselves. I'm not the least bit surprised that you stepped up and refused to remain silent.
Please be careful! The scourges in this administration, namely his DizHonor Dolan, Cyndy Taymore, Margaret Driscoll, Kristen Thorpe, Don Constantine, Christine Cassatelli and the newest member of the school committee Jessica Duggan will be plotting your demise. And with the not so legal counsel of Robert VanCampen, I have no doubt that a concerted effort to silence you will be forthcoming.
Yes, you have protection against retaliation while the investigation is going on. But you know as well as I do, that will end when the investigation ends. Unless the people of Melrose vote out Margaret Driscoll you will remain a target that Dolan won't hesitate to exploit ways to remove you.
Ms. Dillon (and I won't use your first name out of respect and in an effort to protect the last vestiges of your anonymity)you are truly a hero of this community! If you ever need my help you know how to get a hold of me. I will be your legal counsel if you'll have me. Take care my friend.
I would expect that she is protected by federal regulation from retaliation beyond the time the investigation ends. The district will be in jeopardy if she can show the district retaliated against her because she reported or cooperated with the federal investigation. The burden should actually be on the district to prove that any negative steps taken against the employee were not in retaliation for her cooperating with the investigation.
Not that the school district won't start a vicious campaign 'documenting' deficiencies or improper behavior (probably backdating things prior to this time, as well - although they could have trouble backdating if there is no contemporaneous evidence). She shouldn't trust the union to protect her, though, because much of the union leadership have developed relationships far too cozy with management.
I am not courageous. I am not afraid. I have spoken up before even prior to this administration. I've filed with the DLR, MCAD/EEOC, DOE etc. I have had my job threatened, position threatened, hours taken away, offered a $2,000 pay-off to drop something and look the other way etc. It's a very long list and much of it under prior administration. If something occurs for telling the truth, so be it. I will then be very vocal on everything I know. I'd like to believe, and maybe I'm a bigger fool than most, but it's never too late to fix things and move forward rather than fix blame. Accept what's happened, accept the consequences, and insure it doesn't happen again. My personnel file is clean. All evals flawless. I am very upfront about what I feel and refuse to hide behind the mask of secrecy. I am doing what I was taught to do from my parents, instilled in me since childhood. I was born here. So were my kids and grandkids. I love this city and want it back to what it was.
There really is no protection in Melrose from retaliation. If you follow the District's procedure, you file your complaint first with the principal. This is usually where the retaliation first starts. You will typically get a nasty letter from the principal blaming you or the child for whatever your complaint was. You will also be accused of yelling at staff and will typically be banned from volunteering at school events and required to have an administrative escort when at the school. This school district is also famous for illegally retaliating against complainants by deploying the school resource officer and city solicitor against children and parents under the guise of "safety" which is just absolutely sickening.
I am the former art/photography teacher who made the complaint with the OCR (in addition to Ms. Dillon making a separate complaint before I had even made mine. She and I did not know each other and I had no idea that she had made a complaint with the OCR regarding the directive I was given).
Anyway, I did want to address what one person mentioned above, regarding whether Metco would have issue with the directive I was given. I can tell you that people working within the Metco program, the students involved and also their parents, were very disturbed by the directive I was given. In addition, I wanted to point out that although there were a few students sitting together who were not white, not all of those students are in the Metco program. There are students who are not white who live in Melrose, so please keep that in mind.
Ultimately, I was uncomfortable with following this directive as I had explained to Ms. DiFruscia, the department chair, that the students were doing just as well in class as any of the other students, and since it was a photography class, the students didn't spend much time sitting in their seats anyway. She could give no other reason for wanting them moved, aside from the color of their skin.
I wasn't sure if I should comment on here but I would rather people know the truth than speculate or try to infer details from the articles written. I hope people can see that I did this with the best of intentions and with my (former) students in mind. If you knew me as a teacher while there, or knew of my lessons, you may have known that diversity and acceptance of all was a key component to my teaching, so when I was given this directive, it was something that I knew was wrong and felt very strongly about.
If you saw my (attempted) speech at the school committee meeting in June, although I didn't reference this directive, I wanted the community/parents to know what is going on in the schools. Your children...my (former) students...these kids deserve better.
In regards to No Protection in Melrose, it has been a rough 2-3 years at Horace Mann for parents of SPED children.
Whatever happened at Horace Mann should not be a reflection on the other Melrose elementary schools.
The previous poster commented: "Whatever happened at Horace Mann should not be a reflection on the other Melrose elementary schools." What the heck world do you live in? Who do you think hired the administrators and teachers there? Santa Claus? Having a level 3 school affects no one else in the district?
Will you kindly get your head out of your a** and wake up to reality! The current school administration poor performance, lack of transparency, lack of truthfulness, and 2 civil rights violations in a year affects ALL other schools in Melrose - one way or another!
Remember, according to Ms. Taymore's recent evaluation. she has done such a great job since working here (our first level 3 school, civil rights violations, our best teachers exiting our schools, teachers in revolt) that she was given a contract extension and another annual raise by our illustrious school committee (with the exception of CKK)! Talk about lunacy and idiocy personified! Welcome to Melrose - the alternate universe!
"With one finding already hanging there indicating that Melrose administrators/officials violated the civil rights of students, hopefully it won't take long for this additional set of violations to be defined clearly so that there can be some justice for all who have been hurt directly and so that our community can start doing the long hard work of understanding what needs to change."
Agree 100 percent. Very well spoken.
Addressing these deep and systemic problems should start with that "Yes" group taking some responsibility and stepping back from its nonsensical unquestioning fanaticism supporting an obviously sick system. This is a core group that is actually harming our community with its blind strident insistence that this administration is "exemplary" and that giving it more money will only make it more so and is necessary. To people in the greater Boston area, it's plain to see that Melrose has a huge problem. How can this "Yes to the Override" group be so blind and actually downright foolish? Countries behind the Iron Curtain would have praised this group's propaganda and its apparent effectiveness with the gullible population!
Relatives all over the place who are reading about this (and hearing about it on WBZ!) are blown away that this "Yes" group would have any credibility at all given what is patently obvious to people with even a shred of common sense living nearby. They can't believe that a mayor and school board continues to give high ratings, contract extensions and even raises to those who would have been fired outright in a more sensible place.
But then again Melrose was stupid enough to approve a charter that put its mayor on the school board (with the proviso that any candidates for that position would have to give up any holdings in other businesses in order to serve as mayor) and then fail to include Recall provisions! Next door (practically) in Winchester, the whole community rose up instantly and was in all the news and talk shows about recalling officials for something quite a bit less serious than what is going on in Melrose, while here the focus seems to be just on the Victorian Fair and more override propaganda. The whole thing is quite unbelievable in its breadth of craziness and sickness. This "hot zip code" really needs to look to its core and clean up its entire act, starting with citizens organizing some community forums (since it's obvious that the corrupt officials certainly won't do this!). Also agree with another poster: Time to Take Back Melrose!
Even way back when I was a kid, Melrose always had a "clique" mentality. But there was always, even given that, a sense of decency beneath all that. You might not fit or be included in the clique, but when something bad happened, the entire community, cliques notwithstanding, came together and supported those who suffered some misfortune or injustice.
Even those who weren't one of the "popular" kids in school could count on the fact that they wouldn't be bullied, not only not by any other kids, but by the teachers and the administration. People had each other's backs. I remember a time when I got accused of something that I didn't do. The most vocal protestations actually came from the clique kids, even though I was not even close to being a member of that group. Nobody ever told me I should go back to the plantation.
Not so today. Melrose is sick, people, truly sick, and the germ most responsible for this sickness sits in the big office on the second floor of City Hall. You can get rid of every one of the boot licking sycophants he surrounds himself with. You can get rid of all the (save one) norms spouting bullies on the SC, and the butt kissing GIC sucking phonies on the BOA. But until you get rid of that toxic disease in the big office, the faces may change, but the game will remain the same.
I wonder why Clown patrol has no posts on this string?
I don't.