Sergio Paez should be given a chance to negotiate for the contract that seemed his to accept as of 7 December 2015.
I make this statement as a reassessment after considering a bevy of factual information pertinent to the tenure of Paez as Superintendent of the Holyoke (Massachusetts) School District.
I have completed a thorough reading of multiple documents that pertain to communications and actions emanating from the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families; Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; the Holyoke (Massachusetts) School District; Disability Law Center; and Office of Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni--- in the interests of establishing a firm chronology and factual account of events relevant to allegations of physical abuse of special education students at Peck School. The latter is an institution in the Holyoke School District where Sergio Paez--- the Prospective Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools--- served as superintendent from June 2013 until April 2015.
Here is the factual composite account that emerges from examination of these multiple sources:
Sergio Paez was hired as Superintendent of the Holyoke School District in June 2013, with the responsibility of preventing the academically underachieving school district from going into receivership under the authority of the State of Massachusetts. In Fall 2013, Paez and staff established the Therapeutic Intervention Program to comply with state orders to integrate disabled students more effectively into the district’s academic programs. From August 2013 until May 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families conducted four investigations into practices at Peck School and found evidence of abusive use of physical restraints in dealing with students.
At this point, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Schools assumed responsibility for investigating the alleged abuse. Interviews with school personnel, students, and parents yielded evidence of abuse in incidents spanning academic year 2014-2015. During this time, Sergio Paez conferred with staff in a process for establishing a Restorative Alternative Program, especially for students in Grades 5-7 who had not been successful in previous learning environments.
In early 2015, Paez met with parents who showed them photographs of bruised arms caused, they said, by staff at Peck School.
On 6 March 2015, former Holyoke staff member Lisa Hirsch sent Superintendent Paez a letter alleging
that staff members at Peck School improperly used physical restraints, forced children into seclusion (isolation in closets), and did not follow proper procedures pertinent to the issuing and tracking of suspensions. On 20 March, Paez sent a letter to Hirsch conveying his concern and promising investigation into the alleged incidents.
The process for establishing the Restorative Alternative Program culminated in a 17 April 2015 meeting that set guidelines for moving the proposed program forward.
On 28 April 2015 officials in the State of Massachusetts took control of Holyoke School District; the district went into receivership and Paez was removed as superintendent. Paez, though, in association with the Restorative Alternative Program, Credit Recovery, English Language Immersion, and improved graduation rates had gained favorable notice from officials; the latter eventually hired him as an academic consultant to the Holyoke School District where he had launched these programs and recorded these achievements.
On 30 April 2015, the Disability Law Center (DLC) sent a letter to officials in Holyoke conveying that the DLC was proceeding with an investigation of allegations at Peck School.
On 21 July 2015, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education notified Holyoke officials that its investigation indicated noncompliance on matters pertinent to physical restraint of students. Incidents occurring during academic year 2014-2015 that led to this determination included use of physical restraint in situations in which such restraint was not warranted; use of prone restraint and seclusion, both prohibited by Massachusetts law; and improper procedures and lack of documentation for out-of-school and in-school suspensions.
In a series of meetings during August and September 2015, variously involving Holyoke administrators or staff members, including meetings specifically for those at Peck School, officials under the leadership of Receiver Stephen Zrike took corrective action to address the concerns conveyed in the 21 July 2015 noncompliance letter. On 1 October 2015, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education official George K. Haile (Program Quality Assurance Services) sent Zrike a letter ruling favorably on corrective action by the Holyoke School District.
This closed the case.
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On 7 December 2015, members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education voted 6-3 to make Sergio Paez Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
On 9 December 2015, the Disability Law Center issued a report conveying that staff at Peck improperly
slapped and restrained students.
On 14 December 2015, the Office of Hampden County Attorney General Anthony Gulluni announced that it was launching a criminal investigation pertinent to the alleged incidents of abuse at Peck School.
On 16 December 2015, members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education suspended contract negotiations with Sergio Paez.
School board members Tracine Asberry and Josh Reimnitz went forth with a visit to Holyoke Schools already scheduled during the 7 December meeting.
In early January 2016 Sergio Paez came to Minneapolis on his own initiative to address any concerns of school board members, school staff, and community members.
On 12 January 2016 the regular second-Tuesday-of –the-month meeting of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education will take place, with a review of the decision regarding Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools promising to be the item of greatest importance on the agenda.
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Note that the letter of 1 October 2015 closed the case relevant to abuse at Peck School in the aftermath of approved corrective action by Holyoke Schools.
The timing, over two months later, of the accusations levied by the Disability law Center seems odd. The sorts of allegations made by the DLC were those acknowledged by Holyoke Schools, which took the approved corrective action.
Then, just after these allegations were made by the DLC, the Office of County Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced a criminal investigation. This is a viable follow-up at the discretion of a public attorney, but why the announcement had not been made earlier, on the strength of admissions by officials at Holyoke and documentation by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education--- again seems odd.
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Sergio Paez was in the process of launching programs addressing the needs of students needing academic alternatives at the time that he went from superintendent to consultant status at the Holyoke School District from April 2015.
Nothing in the process followed by the members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education under guidance by the search firm HYA associate Ted Blaesing over the nearly ten months that culminated in intense semifinalist and finalist interviews in December 2015 revealed any concerns over physical abuse in the Holyoke Schools.
A curiously timed letter by the Disability Law Center seems to have triggered another curiously timed communication from the Office of Hampden County Attorney Anthony Gulluni.
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My readers may scroll down to read my accounts of having opposed a national search from the outset.
They may then read how my own assessment of candidates, once members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education went forward with their unwise national search, led to my recommendation for candidate Charles Foust.
I reiterate both of those stances, lamenting the time that is elapsing as the academic needs of students of the Minneapolis Public Schools go insufficiently met; and still expressing my enthusiasm for the talent manifested by Charles Foust.
But upon careful review of the facts given in considerable detail above, and in fairness to the candidacy of Sergio Paez, who gained the favorable school board vote of 7 December 2015--- I strongly recommend that at this point the members of that board honor their vote and move forward to negotiate a contract with Sergio Paez as the next Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
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