Burlington school officials placed three administrators on paid leave last month after state investigations into the assistant principal of J.J. Flynn Elementary School unearthed other potential personnel issues in the district.
Burlington School District Superintendent Tom Flanagan told parents in a letter Thursday that the state Department of Children and Families and the Agency of Education were investigating Assistant Principal Herbert Perez over allegations that he inappropriately restrained a student.
Those investigations into the 23-year employee of the school district spurred further scrutiny of Flynn Principal Lashawn Whitmore-Sells and Susan “Ze” Anderson-Brown, the district’s executive director of human resources, according to Flanagan’s letter.
Whitmore-Sells was put on leave Nov. 22 for having an expired principal’s license, a discovery state officials made while investigating the Perez complaint, Flanagan said.
Flanagan placed Anderson-Brown on leave for not informing him that Whitmore-Sells had an expired license, the superintendent said.
An email message sent on Friday to Perez was not immediately returned.
Whitmore-Sells, who serves as president of the union that represents Burlington School District administrators, did not immediately respond to a Friday email from VTDigger. Her name is not listed in the Vermont Agency of Education’s database of licensed educators.
When reached by phone, Anderson-Brown referred VTDigger to her lawyer, who declined to comment.
Anderson-Brown serves on the Vermont Ethics Commission. Christina Sivret, the commission’s executive director, declined to comment on whether Anderson-Brown’s placement on leave would affect her position on the commission.
“At this time, we haven’t had any discussions about it,” Sivret told VTDigger.
Flanagan announced that the district has hired an outside investigator to look into the incidents concurrently with the state investigations. The probe will also investigate Whitmore-Sells’s connection to the Perez complaint.
The district, through a spokesperson, declined to share a rough timeline of its investigation.
In his letter to parents, first reported on by Seven Days, Flanagan wrote that the district “will continue to work hard to minimize disruptions to students and staff” as the investigations progress.
“While I believe it is important to share this information with you, it is also important to know that at this time, the District has not reached any determinations concerning these matters beyond the necessity to investigate,” Flanagan wrote.
Retired Edmunds Elementary principal Shelley Mathias will helm the New North End school for now, the superintendent said.
Flanagan was not made available for an interview.
Beth Fialko Casey, president of the union that represents Burlington School District teachers, praised Mathais as a capable leader who could support Flynn’s students and teachers at a time when it is much needed.
Fialko Casey said the revelation that Whitmore-Sells did not have a valid principal’s license shocked her, in part because Anderson-Brown, the human resources chief, was a stickler for ensuring teachers had their licenses renewed.
“There was definitely accountability for teachers on checking our licensure,” Fialko Casey said.
In the Burlington School District, if a teacher does not renew their license within 30 days of its expiration, they are paid a substitute teacher’s wages, Fialko Casey said.
Because of the firm financial penalties, teachers usually keep close track of their licensure status, Fialko Casey said.
“You’d have to sort of choose to not know that your license is expiring,” she said.
Whitmore-Sells has held multiple roles in Burlington public schools across 23 years with the district, including a stint as principal of the Sustainability Academy.
Whitmore-Sells’s 2019 move from the Sustainability Academy to Flynn was initially rejected by school board members, sparking imputations of racial basis from Whitmore-Sells, who is Black, and members of the community.
Per state law, the Agency of Education’s investigation into Perez can only affect his license to serve as an administrator or teach. To revoke those, the agency would have to prove he acted unprofessionally.
In Vermont, it is school districts, not the Agency of Education, who are in charge of disciplining teachers that are found to have acted inappropriately. But one must possess a license from the state to teach in or lead a public school.
A spokesperson for the state Agency of Education declined to comment on the existence of an investigation into Perez. A spokesperson for the state Department of Children and Families did not respond to a request for comment.
