[B]URLINGTON — At the same time that the former Burlington High School principal was applauding now-suspended guidance director Mario Macias for his improvements leading the department, a consultant hired by the school district in mid-2018 was preparing a report recommending he be fired, documents obtained by VTDigger show.
Tracy Racicot, then the school’s outgoing principal, recommended in June that Macias be renewed in the position, explaining that she was satisfied with the progress he had made over the previous year under a plan that included feedback from colleagues, meeting with other guidance directors in the district and weekly meetings with the principal.
“As of June 2018, Mario Macias has successfully improved performance to an acceptable level in all areas of the Focused Assistance Plan for the 2017-18 school year,” the assessment concludes. “I recommend that Mario Macias be Renewed and transitioned to Ongoing Supervision for the 2018-19 school year.”
The Agency of Education is currently pursuing a revocation of Macias’ license on seven charges, 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 by asking a student to testify on his behalf, among other charges.
The charges were initially reported by the BHS Register, the school’s student newspaper, leading to a separate First Amendment battle with the administration.
As Racicot was making these recommendations, a consultant hired by the district, Roger Forando, was working on a report on Macias that was submitted in August. He would conclude that while the performance of the guidance department as a whole was “satisfactory, even commendable,” Macias was incompetent as the director.
“I can see no way the Guidance Department can continue to work effectively for the students, or for the BHS guidance department in general to thrive, with Mario Macias in charge of Guidance,” Forando concluded.
The Burlington School District denied a public records request last month for Forando’s report. VTDigger then obtained the document through a request to the Agency of Education.
Other documents obtained from the agency indicate that Macias will use the positive evaluation and improvements described in the the principal’s assessment to defend himself when the AOE hearing against him continues Dec. 13.
Macias’ lawyer, Francisco Guzman, submitted those documents as part of an unsuccessful motion to dismiss the Agency of Education’s charges against his client, which was obtained as part of VTDigger’s records request.
Macias has been on administrative leave since Sept. 13. The agency’s investigation into his performance started after two former Burlington guidance counselors confronted the school board in August 2017. Counselor Yvette Amblo-Bose told the school board at the time that Macias was “unprofessional, dishonest and disrespectful” to his colleagues.
Evaluation and Assistance Plan
Racicot launched the “focused assistance plan” with Macias on Sept. 21, 2017, following the departed counselor’s public airing of grievances. It lays out steps he should take to improve his performance in leading the department, from acting with professionalism to communicating with colleagues.
The assessment lists among his improvements after a year on the plan being more responsive to feedback from colleagues, attending professional development events and discussing best practices with other guidance directors in the region monthly.
Macias’ job description indicated 20 percent of his time was for counseling students, and Racicot wrote a glowing review of his performance in this area. “He has demonstrated, as a counselor he is skilled at this role,” she wrote. “He is positive and generous with students. He has a true passion for seeing students succeed.”
Among his successes were providing information to students on paying for college and helping organize a college fair directed at students who would be first generation college students and the school’s first ever gap year fair.
Russ Elek, spokesman for the school district, said the district cannot comment on specific personnel matters, including past or current evaluations of employees. Racicot is now the director of the Burlington Technical Center. A call to the center seeking comment from Racicot was referred to Elek.
Forando Report
The district first contacted Forando, the ethics chair of the Vermont School Counselor Association, in May and hired him to do an outside report on how the guidance department functioned and how Macias was performing as its director.
Forando, who testified in the AOE’s first hearing about Macias in November, submitted his report to the district Aug. 14. He wrote that the district made a mistake in hiring Macias as he was not qualified for the job.
Forando questioned how the job was advertised and noted that there were only four applicants despite a nationwide search.
“The administration needs to consider and review under what circumstances they chose to hire him, and how that has affected the current state of the problem,” Forando wrote.
The district also asked Forando to evaluate if a specific student, referred to in the report as “John Doe,” had met the requirements for graduation, and, if not, why he graduated. Forando found that the student was 1.875 credits shy of qualifying for graduation after comparing the graduation requirements and the student’s transcript.
Under cross-examination from Guzman at the Nov. 15 hearing, Forando said he did not speak with the school registrar, principal or data manager about the student whose record he reviewed.
The report was primarily based on information collected from a survey of 30 current and former guidance department staff members and teachers selected by the district. On the advice of his lawyer, Macias declined to speak with Forando.
Forando’s report found that Macias was more suited to be a counselor or social worker than department leader. He wrote that one staff member said that if Macias’ students were given a survey, it would show “positive support” for Macias.
In 2017, Racicot recommended to district leadership that Macias’ job description be modified to include more student counseling and less administrative work, Forando wrote. However, the job was tweaked in the opposite direction, to include more administrative work and less student counseling, the report says.
Macias applied to an open counselor position in June 2018 which would have been in lieu of his job as director of guidance, but was not hired for the position.
“This reflects well on Mario that he might be cognizant of the status of his Directorship,” Forando wrote. “To this reviewer, it indicates that Mario is aware of staff concerns and the lack of support he has, and where his strengths lie.”
The College Board investigated allegations that Macias had acted improperly in administering a 2017 PSAT exam and 2018 Advanced Placement exams, but did not confirm any official improprieties, according to the report.
The Final Report?
During the November hearing, Guzman questioned Forando on his experience analyzing surveys and the thoroughness of his study.
Forando told VTDigger he had spoken with Racicot during his review and believed the report was thorough enough to complete the evaluation he was hired to produce.
The school district explained in rejecting VTDigger’s public records request seeking the report that it had received a preliminary draft of the report but not the “full report,” which was requested.
The district wrote the draft of the report was exempt from the Vermont public records law under provisions protecting personnel files, student records, interdepartmental communication that is preliminary to the determination of policy and deliberations of a public agency acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial capacity.
The district also invoked the section of the public records law which states custodians of records can deny records requests that would cause them to violate “any statutory or common law privilege.”
“It is likely that any ‘full report’ that we receive will also be exempt from disclosure pursuant to the same exemptions,” Superintendent Yaw Obeng wrote in an email Nov. 29.
Elek reiterated Wednesday that Forando’s report was incomplete.
But Forando told VTDigger that he believed the report he submitted was final and he had not heard from the school district requesting any additional work. He said believed the $4,200 the district had agreed to pay him for the report was being processed.
“The final time I sent it in, I had not considered it a draft, I considered it the final report,” he said.
A three-person governor-appointed panel, which features two school administrators from other districts and a member of the public, will make the final decision on Macias’ license. Macias is planning on testifying in his own defense, Guzman said during the November hearing.
The hearing continues Dec. 13.
