New Bedford middle school staff say enough is enough on false complaints against teachers

NEW BEDFORD — According to two Roosevelt Middle School staff members who spoke at last week's School Committee meeting, complaints being made against teachers and the process of investigating them have become a problem at the South End middle school.

"I'm here tonight to represent Roosevelt's staff and their overall concerns about situations that have occurred towards Unit A staff members throughout the school year," said RMS counselor and New Bedford Educators Association (NBEA) building rep Patty Benner, during the public speaking portion of the School Committee's May 13 meeting. "Primarily, there have been investigations on teachers stemming from student and/or parent complaints and accusations about teacher misconduct."

Benner — who was joined at the microphone by RMS special education teacher Teri Desrosiers — said "nearly all of the investigations were handled inappropriately" in a number of ways.

"Although some teachers received letters prior to being investigated, many teachers were not notified in writing prior to investigations. Most were notified verbally either during or after an investigation took place, and one was not notified at all until told by a staff member that they had been under investigation," Benner said.

According to Benner, some investigatory meetings took place "over one month" after an allegation was made.

Other investigatory issues, as outlined by Benner, included:

• "No evidence of any kind was brought to these meetings for the staff members to review before being questioned by HCS (human capital services) staff;"

• "During the meetings HCS did not stick to asking straightforward questions about the actual accusations;"

• "Members were expected to answer abstruse questions, asking them to surmise what may have occurred;" and "In some cases not all evidence was used to determine outcomes."

Benner said the "majority" of investigations into teacher complaints at RMS this year were determined to be unfounded based on lack of evidence.

What does the teachers' contract say?

The following language is found in the Unit A contract between New Bedford Educators Association and New Bedford School Committee, valid through June 30, 2025, under "Complaints": "Any complaints regarding a professional employee made to the administrator by any parent, student, or other person will be promptly called to the professional employee's attention."

RMS counselor: Some false reports need consequences

Another aspect of the issue described by Benner has been a lack of "any consequences or follow-up counseling" for false reporting against teachers.

While RMS staff "do not want to discourage students" with legitimate concerns, Benner clarified, she said the staff believe there should be "some sort of atonement" for false accusations made with malicious intent, "even if it means removing a student from their current classroom setting."

"...we have had instances of accusatory students gleefully skipping down hallways, announcing to classmates that they got a teacher fired, or asking other personnel if a teacher had been fired when a teacher wasn't at work the following day, or having one student make accusations of a similar nature against more than one teacher," Benner continued. "These are clear indications that students are using this pathway to try to get rid of teachers...."

RMS teacher: We can't afford to lose more staff

Desrosiers noted that in the previous school year, RMS had lost 25 staff members "to other schools and other circumstances."

"We cannot afford to lose more qualified teachers this year due to the nature and quantity of ... incidents," Desrosiers said.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Roosevelt staff: Teacher investigations conducted 'inappropriately'