On July 24, 2008, and July 28, 2008, the Caribou Board of Education held a hearing to consider charges and a recommendation of dismissal of Kirsten Albair, a teacher at Caribou High School. The hearing was preceded by due notice of the charges to Ms. Albair, who was present throughout the hearing, represented by her legal counsel Alan Harding and by Nancy Hudak of the Maine Education Association. Superintendent Frank McElwain, who had brought the charges and recommended dismissal, and legal council Melissa Hewey, represented the school administration.
Board Chair Scott Willey and members Kent Forbes, Dale Gordon, Pamela Buck, Katherine Anderson and Kyle Blackstone were present throughout the hearing and participated in all deliberations. Legal council Bryan Dench, who also acted as hearing officer, assisted the Board.
The administration presented 24 exhibits and testimony of 11 witnesses, including eight students or former students at Caribou High School, principal Mark Jones, Nicole Manganelli of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence and the superintendent.
The teacher testified on her own behalf and presented the testimony of 12 additional witnesses, including two formers students and six of her fellow teachers in the Caribou schools. She presented 31 exhibits and partial transcripts of the hearing, including the testimony of four students.
The teacher and the administration were given a full and fair opportunity to present witnesses, documentary evidence and argument to the Board. All witnesses were sworn and subject to direct and cross examination until excused by the parties and the Board. At the written request of the teacher the hearing was conducted in open session according to 1 Me. Rev. Stat. Section 405 (6)(A)(3), with the exception of the testimony of three witnesses who testified about confidential student matters. The parties agreed that this testimony would be heard in closed session notwithstanding the teacher’s lawful request for a hearing open to the public. The Board deliberated in closed executive session according to 1 Me. Rev. Stat. Section 405 (6)(A) and the teacher waived her right under 1 Me. Rev. Stat. Section 405 (6)(A)(2) to be present during the deliberations.
The Board has carefully considered all the evidence presented and has heard the testimony of all witnesses and had the opportunity to evaluate their credibility as they testified. The Board has deliberated at length and carefully and soberly considered its decision in this matter. Based on the findings stated below, the board has determined that Kirsten Albair is unfit to teach and her services are unprofitable to the schools, within the meaning of 20-A Me. Rev. Stat. 13202, which states the Board “shall dismiss” any teacher found unfit to teach or unprofitable to the schools. The Board has further determined that there is just cause for the termination of her teaching contract with Department and that her dismissal in the best interests of the schools and the students. Accordingly the Board voted on July 28, 2008, to dismiss Kirsten Albair effective immediately. In support of its decision, the Board hereby makes the following findings of fact.
Findings of Fact:
1. In June of 2001, David Ouellette, the High School Principal, warned Ms. Albair in writing for making mean and sarcastic comments to students and for inappropriate classroom management. (See Administration Exhibit 15). He directed her to develop and show more respect, compassion and empathy for students. He expressly warned her that she need to make “significant improvement in these areas” or her continued employment could be in jeopardy.
2. Despite having been warned about her inappropriate interactions with students, Ms. Albair continued to engage in disrespectful or insensitive speech and behavior toward students. This is exemplified by her evaluation in 2005 (Exhibit 10) that expressly mentions her need to “monitor use of inappropriate language.” Her evaluation in 2007 (Exhibit 8) stated she needed to be “more proactive in situations where frustration may occur rather than letting it build to a breaking point,” and “Overall professional conduct is acceptable however, an emphasis and follow through of a collaborative plan of action in working with challenging students will be monitored.” Finally, there was a complaint from parents in April of 2006 (Exhibit 19). Her 2008 evaluation completed in April noted, “Many students complaints of feeling unimportant, because input was not valued,” and “Presentation of extremely insensitive subject matter on multiple occasions as reported by several students is unacceptable.”
3. On March 1, 2007, the Superintendent reprimanded Ms. Albair in writing and suspended her for a day without pay for (making inappropriate remarks) to a student in the presence and hearing of other students. (Exhibit 16) A couple of years before that Ms. Albair had been spoken to and disciplined by her principal, Mr. Jones, for (making inappropriate remarks) to a student in the presence of other students. In his disciplinary letter in 2007 Superintendent McElwain directed Ms. Albair to create an action plan to acquire the knowledge and skills to deal effectively with all students with whom she works. In her action plan Ms. Albair acknowledged her desire, “to become more proactive regarding student behavior that might raise my level of frustration to explosive levels.” She acknowledged her need to ask guidance counselors “to advise me of students who have strong negative feelings about my interaction with them” and her need to observe teachers “having positive relationships with students.” (See Exhibit 23)
4. In his disciplinary letter of March 1, 2007, regarding Ms. Albair’s (inappropriate remarks) to a student in the presence of at least two other students, Superintendent McElwain told Ms. Albair her “use of an expletive toward a student was simply unacceptable.” He noted students are suspended for such language and said, “We have to be consistent in the message we send to students by refraining from the behaviors that we will not tolerate from them.” He warned her of more serious consequences if she engaged in similar behavior in the future, saying, “This letter will be placed in your personal file and you are cautioned that similar behavior in the future will result in more serious consequences” than the reprimand and suspension without pay he was imposing for this incident.
5. Despite this long disciplinary history for inappropriate remarks to students, during the second half of the current school year 2007-08, in or about February or March unless otherwise noted, Ms. Albair made the jokes or remarks to students in the classroom or other locations in the school, each of which was extremely inappropriate and offensive. Despite Ms. Albair’s claims to the contrary, none of these jokes or statements were part of any curriculum or instructional activity, and none served any pedagogical purpose:
6. Refer to document on file at Caribou Superintendent’s Office.
7. The ethnic “jokes” and other remarks quoted above were examples of a pattern of verbal mistreatment of students, humiliation of students, sexual innuendo and racial innuendo engaged in by Ms. Albair in the classroom.
8. Ms. Albair’s extremely offensive remarks demonstrate a profound insensitivity to ethnic and religious minorities, are not acceptable speech for any teacher in our schools, and are directly contradictory to the objectives expressed in Caribou School Department’s policies on non-discrimination and harassment (Policies AC and ACAA), Educational Philosophy (AD) and Staff Conduct (GBEB), pertinent parts of which are quoted here: “Discrimination against and harassment of students because of race, color, sex, religion, ancestry or national origin or disability are prohibited.
9. Ms. Albair’s conduct set an extremely poor example for students. It has shocked, hurt and upset students and impaired her ability to be an appropriate role model for students and to command the respect and goodwill of the Caribou school community.
10. Ms. Albair’s conduct during the second half of the year, after having been previously warned, reprimanded and suspended for inappropriate interactions with students, demonstrates that she has been completely unable or unwilling to meet the minimal standards of appropriate behavior that are expected of a teacher at Caribou High School, and that it is unlikely she will do so in the future.
11. For each one of the reasons stated above, the Board concludes that Ms. Albair is unfit to teach, her services are unprofitable to the Caribou School Department, her termination is necessary for the good of the school and just cause exists for termination of her employment.
Editor’s note: Parts of this document have been edited due to content that was deemed inappropriate for this publication. The full text of this document, adopted August 6, 2008 by the Caribou Board of Education, is on file and available at the Superintendent’s office.
