Thursday is scheduled to be the second day of testimony on tenure charges against suspended Mullica Township kindergarten teacher Kelly Mascio.
The hearing in front of a state Department of Education arbitrator is closed to the public, but the arbitrator’s decision will be made public after it is issued. It must be finished within 45 days of the hearing’s end, according to the TEACHNJ tenure reform law.
The Board of Education has
moved to fire Mascio, a 16-year veteran teacher, who lives in Mullica
Township. It has accused 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.
The
hearing opened last Wednesday at the offices of Board of Education
attorney Will Donio in Cherry Hill. Donio works for Cooper Levenson in
Atlantic City but the firm also has a Cherry Hill location.
Such
hearings are conducted much like court cases, but under American
Arbitration Association labor rules are private proceedings and members
of the media cannot attend, according to the DOE.
The
arbitrator can decide if Mascio should be fired, but can also recommend
lesser consequences for Mascio, such as suspension or giving up a pay
increase or can recommend that she be reinstated with full back pay, in
effect exonerating her.
Neither
Mascio’s lawyer Michael Damm, of Selikoff & Cohen in Mount Laurel,
Burlington County, nor Board attorney Donio, are expected to comment
while the hearing is continuing.
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.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/tenure-hearing-for-mullica-kindergarten-teacher-to-continue-thursday/article_f0e5d91e-dbb1-11e3-aa4a-0019bb2963f4.html
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