[A] hearing date has been set in the Vermont Agency of Education’s misconduct case against Burlington High School guidance director Mario Macias.
The agency has brought six licensing charges against Macias to the state’s Licensing Hearing Panel, and the secretary of education has recommended his license be suspended for a year. The panel will convene to hear evidence in the case at 10 a.m. on Oct. 11.
Macias has denied the charges and called them “baseless.”
Macias is accused of creating a hostile working environment; failing to maintain a professional relationship with a substitute teacher; deliberately falsifying a student transcript; bullying employees and being “unaware of the basic functions of the guidance department.”
The state launched an investigation into Macias’ conduct about a year ago, after several veteran employees of the guidance department quit en masse and publicly complained to the school board about erratic, bullying behavior and incompetence.
The agency is responsible for enforcing licensing rules for educators. Any formal charges of misconduct it decides to bring forward are heard by a special licensing panel, a governor-appointed group of teachers, administrators and public members. The panel can ultimately decide to take no action, issue a warning, issue a public reprimand, limit, suspend or revoke licenses.
Following public outcry over the agency’s charges against Macias, the district announced late last week that Macias had been placed on administrative leave pending a decision from the state’s licensing panel. He is set to make $99,680 this year, according to employment contracts provided to VTDigger following a public records request.
“Per union contractual obligations, all administrative leave is paid. This instance is no different,” district spokesperson Russ Elek said in an email.
The publication of the Agency of Education’s charges by the BHS Register, the student newspaper, caused controversy at the school after Principal Noel Green ordered student editors to remove the story from its website.
Two days later, after public outcry and widespread media coverage, Green reversed course, and the story was allowed to be reposted. The following day, Green instituted a previous policy that required the paper to submit all articles for review by administrators 48 hours prior to publication.
The students and their allies criticized the move as a violation of the “New Voices” legislation passed by the Vermont Legislature in 2017 to protect student journalists from censorship.
Last Saturday the district rescinded Green’s order and announced that a new policy would be written to comply with the law.
School board member Keith Pillsbury said the board was not required to call a meeting as they did not need to discuss the decision since it was a matter of compliance with the law.
“It was just a matter of communication, making sure there was an understanding of what the law was,” he said.
He said that school board lawyer Joe McNeil reviewed Green’s policy and determined that it was not compliant with the New Voices law.
The school board then informed Superintendent Yaw Obeng that Green’s policy was not compliant with the law, which led Obeng to issue the statement repealing the policy.
Pillsbury said the action was needed to protect Green from legal action.
It is unclear if the district is paying for Macias’ legal counsel. Elek did not respond to multiple phone calls and an email on the question.
The Vermont NEA “does not represent those facing discipline for administrative actions,” said NEA spokesperson Darren Allen.
