 |
 |
 |
8/21/2008
SMITHFIELD - The high school teacher who was fired in 2006 after her classroom trick with a stapler went wrong and slightly injured a student has lost another round in an attempt to get her job back, but intends to fight on.
After a hearing last Thursday, the Appeals Committee of the State Board of Regents voted 3-0 to uphold the School Committee's termination of Bethany St. Pierre.
The Regents Committee, chaired by Amy Beretta, will forward its finding to the full board at its Sept. 3 meeting, according to a spokesman for the State Department of Education.
St. Pierre's lawyer, Jeffrey Sowa, told The Valley Breeze Observer that he intends to seek a Superior Court review if the Regents accept the recommendation, which appears likely.
He said he is confident that the court will see the firing as excessive punishment in view of St. Pierre's professional commitment and unblemished record.
"In essence it was a mistake she made, but it didn't rise to the level of termination," he said.
St. Pierre was appealing a previous decision of Kathleen Murray, a hearing officer for the state commissioner of education. Earlier this year Murray ruled that the School Committee had established that the teacher "had lapses in judgment which were sufficiently serious to constitute good and just cause for termination."
St. Pierre, a six-year history teacher, was described in Murray's decision as an excellent educator who often put in extra time after school and during her free periods to help students.
While rejecting any notion that St. Pierre acted intentionally to injure the student while attempting an illusion of stapling his head - a trick she had performed harmlessly several times before - Murray said that St. Pierre used "extremely poor judgment" in failing to report the student to the school nurse and failing to notify school officials of the accident.
The School Committee put St. Pierre on paid leave immediately and later fired her because of the incident, in which the student bled when a staple punctured his skin.
Sowa said there was no need for medical attention and no requirement to report the incident.
He said St. Pierre's treatment throughout the process has been marked by a "lack of compassion," adding, "She spent her life wanting to be a teacher and had it taken away from her."
Also, he said, a false public perception still exists from press reports detailing initial charges of assault against her in connection with the injury, even though the charges were thrown out by a judge who termed the incident obviously accidental.
Sowa said the situation makes it almost impossible for her to find another job, other than occasional substitute teaching, and that she and her husband are "getting along as best they can" after having a second child in May. He said he has advised St. Pierre against talking directly to the media while appeals are pending.
- Reach Gerry Goldstein at Gerry76@cox.net.
