Minuteman Tech superintendent positioned on depart following walkout, vote of no confidence

The superintendent of Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical Excessive Faculty in Lexington was positioned on administrative depart late final week. The Minuteman Faculty Committee voted to position Kathleen Dawson on depart within the wake of uproar relating to the ouster of the college’s principal and a rash of different complaints. 

Information of the Faculty Committee’s determination was shared in an e mail to Minuteman households on Could 12. The e-mail was reposted as an attachment to a web-based petition that was began to name for Dawson’s removing. 

She was positioned on depart “pending an investigation into complaints obtained by the Faculty Committee,” Chair Pamela Nourse wrote. “The Faculty Committee has retained impartial authorized counsel to conduct an investigation into these allegations. We’re dedicated to making sure that every one events concerned obtain a good, thorough, and unbiased examination of the info.”

The Committee met and voted final Thursday to position Dawson on depart. An appearing superintendent-director will probably be named quickly. 

“I stay up for working with the investigator assigned, as I’ve all the time put the pursuits of scholars first and I’ve not deliberately engaged in any misconduct,” Dawson mentioned in an announcement to The Boston Globe.

She informed the Globe that the Committee obtained “complaints about my interactions with college students and employees and considerations about working circumstances from the Lecturers Union.”

Dawson was chosen for the place final spring. She beforehand labored as Deputy Superintendent of the Orange County Faculty District in North Carolina, and changed longtime superintendent Ed Bouquillon. On the time, Minuteman officers mentioned Dawson had the expertise and fervour for the job. 

However a yr later, the connection between Dawson and the broader Minuteman group has soured. President of the Minuteman College Affiliation Diane Dempsey informed the Globe that every one 90 members of the group forged a vote of no confidence in Dawson on Could 1. This was reportedly the primary time such a vote had occurred within the district. 

On the heart of the vitriol towards Dawson is her determination to not lengthen the contract of Principal George Clement. That call was made in late April, in line with a letter from the Minuteman Mother or father Affiliation. 

In an e mail from Could 5 to the Faculty Committee, Clement shared his ideas on the matter. Clement’s e mail was additionally posted as a hyperlink from the web petition. 

“[Dawson] confirmed herself [to be] a chilly and misleading reprobate, and that’s the vitality now radiating from the highest of the college,” Clement wrote. “The good academics and youngsters at Minuteman are subjected to an insincere, inexperienced, ineffective supervisor with a damaged ethical compass and so they deserve higher.”

Clement accused Dawson of problematic conduct, and mentioned he investigated complaints towards her. Dawson, Clement wrote, made “employees and college students really feel uncomfortable by rubbing their shoulders or again,” attended a student-therapist session with out an invite, and referred to as directors on their trip to demand work from them whereas additionally telling them that their contracts have been null and void. 

Dawson informed the Globe that these bodily gestures have been “pure” and that “nothing extra was meant.”

“Today, it is a cost loaded with unfavourable implications however info, not implication or rumor and gossip, matter. I’ve by no means touched a scholar or employees member in a way that was meant to be or might be construed to be of a sexual nature,” Dawson informed the paper. “I stay up for clearing my title of the innuendo and rumors motivated by grownup considerations.”

One on-line petition entitled “Save Mr. Clement” has garnered greater than 1,500 signatures to date, whereas one other calling for Dawson’s removing has greater than 680 signatures.

On Could 8, greater than 200 Minuteman college students staged a walkout in help of Clement. Group entry channel LexMedia documented the occasion. An Instagram web page run by members of the senior class has additionally been sharing periodic updates.