Mascio Tenure Hearing Begins 5/7/14

Provided by Kelly Mascio

Mullica Township kindergarten teacher Kelly Mascio, who was suspended after she found that two 5-year-olds had engaged in sexual play in a classroom bathroom, and promptly reported the incident.

MULLICA TOWNSHIP — A tenure hearing that will decide the fate of suspended Mullica Township kindergarten teacher Kelly Mascio begins today at the offices of the Cooper Levenson law firm in Cherry Hill.

The township Board of Education is trying to fire the 16-year veteran teacher, accusing her of poor supervision of students after two 5-year-olds emerged from a classroom bathroom together in September and said they had engaged in sex play.

Today’s hearing before a state Department of Education arbitrator is not open to the public. The arbitrator will have 45 days from the end of the hearing to release a decision on whether Mascio can be fired that will be made public.

Mullica Township Education Association President Barbara Rheault will attend as union president, she said Tuesday.

Lawyers for Mascio, of Mullica Township, and for the Board of Education will present their evidence to the arbitrator, and interview and cross-examine witnesses, said Vineland attorney Ned Rogovoy, who has represented teachers in such hearings
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It’s conducted much like a court case, but since it operates under American Arbitration Association labor rules and is held on private property rather than in a courthouse, it is a private proceeding and members of the media cannot attend, according to the DOE. However, the arbitrator’s detailed written decision will be made public on the DOE website.

Administrative law judges used to hear tenure charge cases, and the proceedings were then open to the public, but the backlog in court meant the process took about 120 days and created burdens for all involved.

The state tenure reform law TEACHNJ changed the process in 2012 to allow DOE arbitrators to decide cases, Rogovoy said, which has shortened the time required to go through the process to closer to 90 days.

“The burden of proof is still the same — it’s on the district trying to take tenure away from the respondent teacher,” he said. “They have to ... tip the scale in their favor. “

The arbitrator can also recommend lesser consequences for Mascio than firing, such as suspension or giving up a pay increase; or can recommend that she be reinstated with full back pay.

In the past, administrative law judge decisions could be appealed to the commissioner of education, then to Appellate Court, Rogovoy said. Now appeals go to Superior Court of New Jersey, but generally only cases of fraud or clear mistakes have a chance.

“The burden is huge to overturn an arbitration decision,” he said, adding there is also no court reporter present to create a written transcript unless one of the parties pays for it.

Rogovoy said arbitrators are paid $1,200 a day, with a maximum for each case at a total of $7,500, which would cover about six days of prep, hearing and writing.

“A case that involves inefficiency can go for a long time — you might have to review a whole year’s paperwork,” Rogovoy said. “Others like this one only have to do with one incident. That shouldn’t take that long.”

Neither Mascio’s lawyer Michael Damm, of Selikoff & Cohen in Mount Laurel, Burlington County, nor Board of Education attorney Will Donio, of Cooper Levenson in Atlantic City, returned calls for comment.

Mascio has been suspended since the September 30 incident, first with pay and then without pay after tenure charges were certified by the Board of Education and sent to the state in late February. Her treatment by the board and Superintendent Brenda Harring-Marro has sparked protests by township teachers and parents, who have argued firing her is too harsh.

About 93 percent of about 100 teachers in the district voted no-confidence in Harring-Marro in March. In April a group of teachers and parents delivered a petition to the Board of Education, with about 720 township residents’ signatures, asking that Mascio be reinstated and Harring-Marro’s contract not be renewed. Later some signers said they thought they were only signing a petition in support of Mascio.

At the April 25 school board meeting, members of the board spoke publicly in favor of Harring-Marro’s leadership, making it clear they would not try to sever Harring-Marro’s employment with the district.

At that meeting the board also announced it was ending the job of Elementary School Principal Jeanine Middleton as a cost-cutting move, and giving the job of principal for both schools to Middle School Principal Matthew Mazzoni.

Mazzoni is the person who filed an incorrect police report in September, stating the children involved in sexual play in Mascio's classroom were naked when found by Mascio, when in fact they were fully clothed. News reports relied on the police report and included the incorrect information until the tenure charges were made public at a Feb. 26 board meeting, and it was clear the police report was wrong.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/tenure-hearing-begins-wednesday-for-mullica-kindergarten-teacher/article_ef4d4016-d566-11e3-a00a-001a4bcf887a.html