After a flurry of investigations into administrators in the Burlington School District late last year, the district’s human resources director and the principal of J.J. Flynn Elementary School have agreed through settlements to step down.
District officials placed Flynn Principal Lashawn Whitmore-Sells on leave in late November, after a separate investigation into Assistant Principal Herbert Perez revealed that Whitmore-Sells’s license to serve as a school administrator had expired. That discovery prompted officials to put Human Resources Executive Director Susan Anderson-Brown, who was supposed to monitor license expirations, on leave as well.
The investigation into Perez — who, according to a complaint filed with the district, improperly restrained a student — is complete, Superintendent Tom Flanagan said Tuesday, though the district is “still working to determine the next steps” it will take.
“This remains a priority and I will let you know as soon as we have more information to share,” he told parents in a letter Tuesday.
Because of her settlement with the state Agency of Education, Whitmore-Sells cannot return to any administrator position, according to details of the settlement Flanagan outlined in the letter.
She was, however, granted permission to remain in the district as a teacher, albeit not at Flynn, Flanagan said.
“We value Ms. Whitmore-Sells’ years of service, skills, and passion for student learning,” he said in the letter. “We have not yet heard if she will accept.”
Anderson-Brown, meanwhile, will stay on as a consultant for the school district until the end of June, when her contract was set to expire, Flanagan said in a letter to parents March 2.
Emails sent to Whitmore-Sells and Perez via their work accounts were returned with automatic replies explaining that they were on leave. A message left for Anderson-Brown at the district’s human resources office was not immediately returned.
Anderson-Brown is a member of the Vermont Ethics Commission. She returned to the board for its April 6 meeting, after sitting out while she was on leave, according to Christina Sivret, the commission’s executive director.
Sivret said Anderson-Brown’s leave and settlement would not have an effect on her commission membership.
“Our understanding was there was a resolution that cleared her,” Sivret told VTDigger.
The departures of Whitmore-Sells and Anderson-Brown leave two prominent openings at the district. Flanagan remained optimistic about filling those roles in his letter to parents.
Flanagan told parents in March that the district would soon begin seeking Anderson-Brown’s replacement, and said Tuesday that the Flynn principal search “will move as quickly as we responsibly can.”
“Our process will be inclusive of students, families, and staff as part of the search committee,” Flanagan wrote. “I am happy to say that we have many qualified candidates who are interested in Burlington schools and Flynn will be able to draw on this candidate pool.”
