Mascio Lawsuit Dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed kindergarten teacher Kelly Mascio's lawsuit against the Mullica Township School District, over its attempt to fire her after two five-year-olds engaged in sexual play in her classroom bathroom.

U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler said in his Sept. 9 opinion that Mascio had not proven that the district’s actions violated her right to due process, since her case was heard by an arbitrator who did not allow the district to fire her.

Her suit, filed Nov. 25, 2015, in state Superior Court, alleged violations of her civil rights, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation by the district and Harring-Marro.

The suit also named former Superintendent Brenda Harring-Marro.

Mascio, of Mullica Township, was a tenured teacher with 16 years experience in 2013 when the district charged her with failing to supervise students and conduct unbecoming a teacher.

"The district is aware of the court's ruling and is focused on moving forward," said Superintendent Andrew Weber. 

No one else from either side could be reached Thursday afternoon. It was unclear if there is the possibility of appeal.

Harring-Marro has since left the district and is the principal at Atco Elementary School in Waterford Township, Camden County.

The suit alleged that, following the Sept. 30, 2013 incident, the defendants “defamed, harassed, and retaliated against her” and that Harring-Marro made false statements about her at public meetings, including accusations that Mascio was using her cell phone when the incident happened.

The suit also alleged that Harring-Marro had said she “watched children being abused and did nothing about it.”

The judge also did not find that the district was negligent in increasing scrutiny and giving negative performance reviews, and found that “monitoring and negative performance reviews alone do not constitute extreme and outrageous conduct” that could be used to argue intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Kugler also said the one-year statute of limitations had run out on her defamation claim.

The district was not successful in its attempt to revoke Mascio's tenure and fire her, but it took almost a year for her case to move through the state Department of Education’s process and for her to be reinstated. She was without her teaching income for most of that period.

In September 2013 Mascio discovered that a boy and a girl in her kindergarten class had gone into her classroom bathroom together without her knowledge.

Another student had alerted her to where they were, and she told the two to come out of the bathroom. When they did, they told her they had taken off some of their clothing and touched each other, according to documents in the case.

She immediately reported the incident to her superiors and the school psychologist, and was suspended with pay. That suspension became unpaid after the district filed tenure charges against her in December.

In June, 2014, state DOE Arbitrator Daniel E. Brent ruled she should not lose her job but only be penalized with a 10-day unpaid suspension for a brief lapse in attention. Since she had been suspended for almost the entire school year, and it was an unpaid suspension for several months, he also ordered the district to give her all back pay and benefits for the $98,000 package minus the 10 days.

The case split the small, rural community. A large faction of teachers, parents and others supported Mascio, saying she should not lose her tenure and job over one small infraction.

In February 2015 Mascio’s husband Brian Mascio Sr., 45, died suddenly of a heart attack while playing with son Joseph, then 9, in their home. Kelly Mascio was in another room helping their son Brian, then 13, with homework.

“We led such quiet, normal, middle-class lives, then to have so much happen in a year,” Kelly Mascio said at the time. “I keep feeling like this isn’t happening, it can’t be real.”

She said at the time that her husband had been angry about how she had been treated by the Mullica Township Board of Education and Harring-Marro. He was especially upset that no one on the board apologized to his wife for what she had gone through during the 2013-14 school year.

mpost@pressofac.com
609-272-7219
@MichelleBPost

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/top_three/mascio-lawssuit-dismissed-against-mullica-township-school-district/article_c849e9bf-abdf-5667-ae5e-72a3166c9e2a.html

Dismissal
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-jersey/njdce/1:2016cv00206/328806/12/

All related posts linked at
http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2014/02/tenure-charges-filed-against-mullica.html