School leaders stand by action to dismiss teacher

16 years ago

To the editor:
    Since the dismissal of former Caribou High School teacher Kirsten Albair, some of her supporters have conducted a sustained media campaign in opposition to the dismissal in an apparent attempt to pressure the superintendent and school board to reverse their decision. The Board and the administration have declined to participate in the public debate because our actions were fully explained in the public hearing and the Board's findings and conclusions. Moreover, Mrs. Albair is appealing the decision to an arbitrator, and there has been no final disposition of this matter. The issue will be decided through the contractual arbitration process, and should not be "tried" in the media.
    We have decided, however, that we need to make this public statement to affirm our belief that the correct action was taken. Rather than engage in a point-by-point response to impertinent or out-of-context criticisms, we will briefly summarize the basis for our decision, relying on the actual evidence and the Board's findings.
    In June of 2001, the former High School Principal warned Ms. Albair in writing for making mean and sarcastic comments to students and for inappropriate classroom management. He directed her to develop and show more respect, compassion and empathy for students. He expressly warned her that she needed to make "significant improvement in these areas" or her continued employment could be in jeopardy.
    Despite having been warned about her inappropriate interactions with students, Ms. Albair continued to engage in disrespectful or insensitive speech and behavior toward students. Specifically, the principal had spoken to and disciplined Ms. Albair for swearing at a student in the presence of other students. Her evaluation in 2005 expressly mentions her need to "monitor use of inappropriate language."
    Despite these further warnings, Ms. Albair still did not learn to control her behavior. On March 1, 2007, the Superintendent reprimanded Ms. Albair in writing and suspended her for a day without pay for swearing at a student in the presence and hearing of other students. She was yet again cautioned that similar behavior in the future would result in more serious consequences.
    Nevertheless, having been warned at least twice that her inappropriate remarks to students could lead to the loss of her job, Ms. Albair during this past year made the most offensive and inappropriate remarks of her career at Caribou High School. At or near the time she was conducting a unit on the Holocaust, and with no educational purpose, she told two extremely offensive "jokes" about the murder of Jews by the Nazis.
    Mrs. Albair denied making the Holocaust jokes at the hearing. In doing so, she contradicted the testimony of at least seven students who heard them being told. The insinuation that these students conspired to falsely testify under oath against her is completely unsupported by the facts, which show that the students were from different social groups, and that most received good grades from Ms. Albair and had no reason to try to harm her career. We admire and respect those students for having the courage to come forward.
    It says a great deal about the offensiveness of Ms. Albair's remarks that not one of the media reports and opinion pieces on this matter has repeated her Holocaust "jokes." We understand fully why the media would not repeat these remarks. But the characterization of the remarks as "jokes" fails to convey just how offensively they seek to make light of, in a crudely graphic manner, the mass murder of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust. These were the worst of her remarks, but they were part of a pattern of clearly inappropriate behavior that had occurred and been documented over a period of at least seven years.
    It has also been argued that Mrs. Albair is being punished again for her earlier misconduct. Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of labor and employment law, however, will understand that the purpose of presenting the evidence of earlier misconduct is to demonstrate that she has received progressive discipline. It demonstrates that she had been warned several times in the past, that she did not take those warnings to heart, and that we have no confidence that she will conduct herself appropriately in the future.
    We do regret that some teachers perceive that our recommendation and the Board's decision reflects a lack of support for the teaching staff. That simply is not the case; and we stand by our long-standing record of treating all staff members fairly. Other teachers have indicated support for our judgment in this case. It has been claimed that morale is low on the teaching staff, and we are disheartened that some individuals have deliberately sought to damage teacher morale to serve their objectives in this case. However, we also believe that teachers have continued to perform their duties conscientiously, and we thank them for their professionalism.
    The right decision is often not the easy one. The recommendation by administration and the Board's decision to dismiss Mrs. Albair was extremely difficult. Once administration and the Board were aware of her violation of nondiscrimination and harassment policies and had no confidence that she would not violate them in the future, they had no choice but to dismiss her. To allow her to continue to teach and mistreat students would be a dereliction of administration's and the Board's duty to provide a safe learning environment free from harassment and discrimination that could result in significant legal charges and financial penalties.

Mark Jones, principal
Caribou High School
Frank McElwain, superintendent
Caribou School Department