MARBLEHEAD, MA — The first item of business for incoming Marblehead Interim Superintendent John Robidoux next month will be an “extremely grave” one after the School Committee on Wednesday authorized $25,000 for him to hire a third-party investigator to examine claims of antisemitic behavior among staff members toward other staff members and formal claims of harassment related to ongoing disputes among staff members.
The School Committee set July 19 as the deadline to hire the firm one week after an explosive two hours of public comment at a Committee meeting that involved charges of antisemitic behavior among staff and within the schools, counter-charges accusing those reporting the antisemitic behavior of fabricating details of their complaints and criticisms of district administration and human resources in the way they handled the strife among staff throughout the school year.
(Also on Patch: Marblehead Antisemitic Accusations, Denials Spur Investigation Call)
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“What I heard last week from our community,” School Committee Chair Jennifer Schaeffner said, “was certainly an importance around this particular investigation and this personnel matter. I am thankful we are going to move forward with this and that our superintendent will be leading this.
“But what I also heard were very serious concerns around issues of antisemitism within our district. Issues around curriculum and other concerns — very serious concerns. So I feel that there’s more work to do here besides just this investigation.”
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(Also on Patch: Marblehead School Employees Engaged In ‘Rapidly Intensifying Dispute’)
Schaeffner said she will request that Robidoux put together a task force to examine the culture of the district when it comes to antisemitic behavior, as well as overriding cases of hate and bias, that she hopes will help root out issues before they rise to this level in the future and could even become a model for other districts facing similar issues.
The School Committee had planned to hire the investigators themselves because Interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness could not do so given that her administration was included in the complaints, according to Committee statements on Wednesday. But with her term expiring this week, the decision was made to forward the responsibility to Robidoux under his purview as superintendent.
Robidoux has a two-year term as the next interim superintendent with the potential for the position to be made permanent during that time. He starts on Monday.
“I don’t want this to look like this is us trying to pass the buck,” School Committee member Alison Taylor said. “I fear that is what may come out of this. The reason it couldn’t be done by anyone in the original administration is because No. 1 they were all leaving, and No. 2 because they were part of the complaint. So now, because it’s a new administration, we’re able to follow the standard process and let them do the procurement.”
School Committee Sarah Fox made motions to move forward with a particular firm recommended by Committee counsel and to set a July 10 deadline for Robidoux to procure the investigator for expediency’s sake, but both motions were defeated.
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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