Photo: Marc Levy The exterior of Fletcher Maynard Academy in The Port neighborhood.
Former staff of a Cambridge elementary school, one of whom is now a member-elect of the Cambridge School Committee, allege that a “retaliatory culture” exists at Fletcher Maynard Academy. The environment may lead to staff attrition and negatively affect students’ academic experience.
School Committee member-elect Luisa de Paula Santos sat down with Cambridge Day to address rumors about her resignation from Fletcher Maynard, or FMA, an elementary school in The Port neighborhood with a student body of about 250 and a special focus on creating an inclusive learning environment for students with autism. Almost 78% of FMA’s students are considered high-need, meaning they are low-income, an English-language learner, or have a disability, the highest percentage in the district. It also has the highest percentage of Black students (49.4%) and students of color (91.5%).
Santos detailed what she characterized as a hostile work environment and a culture that punishes whistleblowers.
Soon after Santos won a seat on the school committee in the November election, Cambridge Day was forwarded an email from “[email protected]” alleging that Santos had been fired as a paraprofessional from the SCALE program at FMA after being involved in a physical encounter with a student. Santos is now a paraprofessional in the Somerville Public Schools, according to her campaign website.
The anonymous sender did not reply to repeated requests for comment and provided no evidence to support the allegation. Cambridge Day has found no evidence to corroborate the allegation. The district declined to comment, citing personnel matters, district representative Jackie Piques said.
Bruno Muñoz-Oropeza Luisa de Paula Santos (center) makes a point at a Sept. 27 forum for Cambridge School Committee candidates.
Santos denied the allegations, saying, “Any claim that I was fired from the Cambridge Public Schools, or that I was separated for any reason involving misconduct, is categorically false and defamatory. The facts are a matter of legal record. I submitted a voluntary resignation, which was accepted by the district and formalized in a separation agreement.”
Santos declined to share the agreement, but Cambridge Day obtained a copy of the June document. The agreement includes a clause that she “will neither seek nor accept employment with the City, including the CPS, in the future.”
Employment vs. election
School Committee members receive compensation from the city. But that arrangement does not appear to breach the agreement. An attorney with employment contract experience who asked to remain anonymous said because the position is elected, the separation clause represents a legal gray area. The attorney also said that there are “serious questions of enforceability” of the contract.
Another observer was more emphatic. “If voters have elected you, your right to serve, barring election fraud, is unlimited,” said Glen Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.
The city of Cambridge said in a statement that “The Law Department acknowledges that being elected by voters as a City Councillor or School Committee member differs from someone applying for a position and getting hired by the City.”
For her part, Santos dismissed the potential of a conflict of interest, responding to the question by saying “The clause in the separation agreement is a standard no-rehire clause.” She added that “This appears to be a politically motivated smear campaign by individuals threatened by my election and by my advocacy for educators and working families.”
Santos said the attack fits with her experience of how the district operates. “There’s a very profound, chilling effect happening where no one can actually speak to what they’re experiencing because they will be retaliated against,” Santos said. “That happened to me, since I already faced the retaliation in the district, and am facing it again after having won the election. It is clear to me that this is just a standard operating procedure that is used in the district.”
Cambridge Public Schools did not comment on allegations of a retaliatory culture.
Morale a possible problem
Data on Fletcher Maynard’s employee satisfaction paint a picture of a school with at least a morale issue. In a districtwide survey of teachers and staff, FMA scored the lowest of any school in the district across the four categories in the survey.
Slightly less than half of the teachers and staff polled reported a sense of belonging at the school. Just over a third reported a sense of well-being or held a favorable opinion of the learning environment at FMA. Only about 1 in 5 respondents said that faculty receive appropriate feedback from the administration.
Santos said the scores relate to what she called the school’s “retaliatory, toxic culture.” She says the culture explains the district’s opportunity gap and is “the reason why we’re not seeing [better] outcomes with students.”
Another Fletcher Maynard teacher who resigned in September cited the school’s divisive environment. Domenic Casselli, who taught Spanish at FMA for 11 years, said that the program had been thriving under the previous administration, but began to collapse under the leadership of current principal Bobby Tynes. Casselli said certain groups of parents have become “weaponized” by the FMA administration.
Tynes became interim principal at FMA in July 2022 and began his tenure as permanent principal the following year.
Increased use of restraint
One shift seems to have been an increased use of restraint for students. Restraint is defined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Middle School Education as “direct physical contact that prevents or significantly restricts a student’s freedom of movement.” By law, physical restraint is to be used as a last resort, only to “protect a student or another member of the school community from assault or imminent, serious, physical harm.”
In the 2022-23 academic year, there were fewer than six students who were reported restrained. (Data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is represented with a dash when fewer than six restraints are reported.) In Tynes’ first full year, 2023-2024, restraints were used against students 48 times. No other school in the district reported more than six restraints used on students.
A current FMA staff member said people who voiced concerns would receive negative job reviews. The culture has led to a “demoralized” staff, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the school’s administration.
The source, the only current FMA staff member who agreed to talk with Cambridge Day, was quick to say that Fletcher Maynard has potential to be a good school thanks to “a strong parent community” and staff who care. “We work so hard and it’s all for the kids. Those of us who are sticking around, it’s just awful to see it getting worse.”
Tynes did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the use of restraints at FMA or its allegedly retaliatory culture.
While not addressing any specific situations, David Murphy, schools superintendent, issued a statement that noted mandated reporting of restraints is done to ensure that no student is being subjected to “implicit bias.”
“We have a responsibility to look closely at all data and to analyze any situations that represent outliers,” the statement continued. “But outlier data points can sometimes be attributed to acute situations, the types of which the school district has an obligation to not comment on with specificity.”
Murphy’s statement also said that “A student-focused culture requires us to take all of these issues seriously, and to respond in a thoughtful and prudent manner.”
The district did not reply to a question about whether the method for tracking restraints changed between 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
Casselli was dismissed by Tynes but said he filed and won a grievance against Tynes for inappropriate dismissal. Casselli did not speak to the cause for his original dismissal. Casselli then decided to resign voluntarily because of the school’s culture. He said the school had not been able to replace him or the temporary Spanish teacher, who also resigned.
Michelle LaPointe was listed as a new Spanish teacher in the Sept. 12 FMA school council meeting minutes, which read in part “A Spanish teacher has been hired as a long term sub. She is committed for the full year to the school and could become our permanent Spanish teacher along the way.”
But in a Nov. 18 email to parents, FMA administration said it was replacing the Spanish-language program with science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, offerings. There was no mention of a Spanish-language program in the meeting minutes between Sept. 12 and Dec. 5, when the council discussed replacing the Spanish-language program with STEM. The Dec. 5 minutes noted that many families are disappointed in the pause of the Spanish program, calling it a “key part of FMA.”