This story was updated at 7:45 Nov. 15.
[B]ARRE — The state Agency of Education began to lay out its case against Burlington High School guidance director Mario Macias during a licensing hearing Thursday.
The agency is seeking a revocation of Macias’ license on seven counts against him, alleging he falsified a student’s record, sexually harassed a college student who was a substitute teacher at BHS and tried to interfere in the investigation against him, among other charges.
Francisco Guzman, Macias’ attorney, said the panel should keep an open mind and that the AOE was trying to sexualize the case against Macias.
“It’s a very, very draconian punishment to demand that his license be revoked,” Guzman said.
Adam Powers, a hearing officer for the agency, is overseeing the proceedings. But the decision on Macias’ license will come down to a three-person governor-appointed panel, which features two school administrators from other districts and a member of the public.
The state originally informed Macias on Sept. 7 that it was filing six counts against him and recommending that his license be suspended for a year. But a seventh count was added later that month alleging he inappropriately engaged a student witness in a discussion of the charges against him.
Macias has been on paid administrative leave since Sept. 14.
Agency of Education attorney Emily Simmons said Macias’ conduct was especially disturbing as the student he tried to get to help him with his case was emotionally vulnerable. Simmons began to call witnesses Thursday.
“In each of the seven counts, Mr. Macias, as an administrator, failed to uphold the standards that Vermont expects of its professional educators,” she said.
The first count states that Macias deliberately falsified information on a student transcript. Simmons said Macias falsified a student transcript for a vulnerable student who graduated, as a result, without receiving the full special education services the student should have received.
The second charge argued that Macias failed to maintain a professional relationship with a college student who was a substitute teacher at BHS. Simmons said that Macias sexually harassed her.
The third charge alleges that Macias “unreasonably impaired” colleagues’ ability to perform their professional duties. This included shouting at an employee, ridiculing an employee and intimidating employees who had complained about his behavior to the principal.
Four members of the guidance department resigned as a result of Macias’ behavior, and two former Burlington guidance counselors confronted the school board in August 2017. Counselor Yvette Amblo-Bose said that counselors “endured unprofessional, dishonest and disrespectful behavior” from Macias.
The other charges allege Macias revealed highly sensitive personal information about a student in front of the student and a third party, did not provide adequate supervision of a standardized Advanced Placement test by pressuring a student to stop working before the allotted time, and that he was unaware of the “basic functions” of the guidance department he oversaw.
“Taken together, the evidence demonstrates he was incapable of performing the duties and competencies required by the license in violation of [the law],” Simmons said.
The additional charge, and recommendation of revocation of the license, has led to a higher burden of proof for the agency. If it was seeking a year-long suspension, it would only need to provide a “preponderance of evidence” to the panel. But for the steeper penalty of revocation, the agency is required to provide “clear and convincing” evidence.
The panel is made up of Chris Pratt, superintendent of the Windham Southwest Supervisory Union school district; Francis Aumand, executive director of the Central Vermont Public Safety Authority; and Dana Peterson, interim superintendent of the Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury.
Guzman said the panel needs to consider witness statements on their merits, and not consider third- and fourth-hand rumors and allegations.
“Don’t we teach our kids to reason through material, work the problem out, come to the best alternative in terms of decision-making?” he said.
Guzman said that Macias would take the stand and testify in his defense.
“Presume that he holds the office, that he has fulfilled the obligation under the statute … and he’s ready right now to face his accusers,” Guzman said.
At the beginning of the hearing, Powers said he had considered Macias’ motion to dismiss and the state’s response and said the case would be moving forward.
Simmons opened by calling Robert Stafford, the agency’s investigator, who answered a couple of questions about his investigation before the hearing went back into executive session.
Stafford walked through the investigation process. He said investigators typically wait for schools to conclude internal investigations and then decide if they need to do any more work.
A team of an agency attorney, an investigator and a member of the governor-appointed licensing hearing panel then launches a preliminary investigation. That group decides if it is necessary to open a formal investigation, which requires approval from the secretary of education.
The target of the investigation is then informed if a formal investigation is opened.
Stafford said media coverage of the counselors’ appearance at the Burlington School Board meeting spurred the investigation. The hearing then went into executive session to talk about student records.
It briefly re-opened into public sessions when Simmons called Jeanne Collins, the superintendent of the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union, as a witness. Collins established that she was aware of one of the students involved in the case and the hearing went back into executive session.
Lynn Kennedy, the former director of the school district’s Horizon’s Alternative Program, and Colleen McSweeney, the former Burlington High School guidance office registrar who resigned during Macias’ tenure, testified in the morning during executive session. More witnesses are expected to be called Thursday afternoon, and some testimony may be in open session.
While Kennedy and McSweeney spoke behind closed doors on Thursday, Stafford’s affidavit provides some information about McSweeney and Kennedy’s experiences with Macias.
Kennedy said she had told Macias that the student whose transcript he is accused of falsifying did not have enough credits to graduate. But she said that he responded by saying the student only had to get some of the credits indicated and he would take care of the rest.
McSweeney had been the registrar for nine years before resigning because she could not work with Macias. McSweeney said Macias was disrespectful and untruthful.
In the afternoon, Simmons called Roger Forando, a longtime school counselor and the ethics chair of the Vermont School Counselor Association. The Burlington School District hired Forando to do an evaluation of the Burlington High School guidance department and Macias’ job performance, more specifically.
Forando said that while he came to the conclusion the guidance department as a whole was competent, Macias was not qualified for his job as director.
Forando said it wasn’t Macias’ fault that the district hired him for a job he wasn’t qualified for, saying that the district had advertised it was looking for a director with a master’s degree in school counseling and that Macias does not have a master’s.
Guzman cross-examined Forando and established that he had not spoken with the anonymous survey respondents or Macias, who declined to speak with him on the advice of his lawyer.
Forando said the district agreed to pay him $4,200 for his services and that he is still awaiting payment.
Simmons then called the student-teacher who alleges that Macias acted inappropriately toward her. The student teacher described that Macias had gotten her cellphone number at a holiday party under the pretext of being able to reach out if there was an available job.
The former student-teacher, who is now employed as a high school teacher in Chittenden County, said that Macias texted her that night to ask if she had gotten home all right, which she found as odd.
She said Macias would text her often to ask if she wanted to eat lunch with him in the high school’s cafeteria, and she would always decline.
“I felt that it was predatorial, and the texts were never of a sexual nature but I would characterize it as sexual harassment,” she said.
Guzman used the cross-examination to question why she didn’t block Macias’ cellphone number if she was uncomfortable, and why she didn’t directly confront him about his behavior.
She said she expressed her concerns to a department head at the school and was informed the principal was aware of the situation and was handling it.
Macias declined to comment following the hearing.
Guzman said that Macias was looking forward to having the opportunity to respond to both the counts against him and the testimony of the witnesses against him.
“He’ll be able to lay it out and put these charges to rest,” Guzman said.
The hearing was continued Dec. 13.
