An employee’s complaints of discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation, as well as the botched rollout of a student information system, are among the concerns Southern Lehigh School District board members recently have confronted during the tenure of Superintendent Michael Mahon, who has been on administrative leave for more than three months.

Those concerns are outlined in documents provided to The Morning Call as well as public statements made at board meetings over the last few months.

Those documents, provided on the condition of anonymity, offer context to tense board discussions that began in September, when members approved removing letters of reprimand and restoring a pay raise for a district employee who received an unsatisfactory year-end evaluation from Mahon.

Comments made during public meetings before Mahon’s leave in February also show tension between the administration and teachers, who expressed frustration over the botched rollout of a technology platform that cost the district nearly $86,000 to implement and will cost more than $69,000 annually.

As the district approaches the end of the official school year, more residents have stepped forward demanding answers. Board members, however, have remained silent on why Mahon has been placed on leave, and did not return requests for comment on Mahon’s status. District solicitor John E. Freund, III said no formal comment could be provided on a personnel matter.

Allegations of discrimination, retaliation

The documents provided to The Morning Call show the board was aware of two complaints from an administration employee alleging unlawful discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation before Mahon was placed on leave.

Both complaints were made against Mahon by Ethan Ake-Little, the district’s director of human resources. Ake-Little, who is Indian American and married to a same-sex partner, alleges discrimination on the grounds of race/ethnicity and sexual orientation.

In the first complaint, sent to the school board in July, Ake-Little outlines a number of incidents in which he believes he was unfairly targeted by Mahon with increasingly aggressive disciplinary action that culminated in a negative performance review and the denial of a raise.

Ake-Little and Mahon declined to comment when contacted by The Morning Call.

An investigation by attorney Ellis Katz into the July complaint concluded that the discrimination and hostile work environment claims had not been substantiated, but that the letters of reprimand and unsatisfactory rating with no pay increase were not justified.

That led to the Sept. 23 board meeting, in which members voted to remove the reprimands, award an employee — identified in the documents as Ake-Little, but who was not mentioned by name during the meeting or on the board agenda — a raise and allow him to report directly to the board president regarding future evaluations or disciplinary actions.

At that meeting, board member Christopher Wayock was among those who voted against the proposed remedies to the discrimination and hostile work environment complaint, saying the investigation featured one-sided evidence and a lack of clear procedures that were unfair to the superintendent.

“I must express my deep concern and disappointment regarding the manner in which the recent investigation and meetings have been handled,” Wayock said. “It’s alarming to witness the complete disregard for due process, which should be the cornerstone for any fair and transparent investigation.”

Board President Emily Gehman pushed back, saying, “I find it disturbing that I hear more concern being expressed on this topic about administrative power and authority and process going forward than about the fair treatment of our employees.”

Ake-Little’s initial complaint solely named Mahon. In February, he filed a second complaint, alleging retaliation by both Mahon and board members, as well as harassment and inappropriate modification of job responsibilities.

In that complaint, Ake-Little alleged he had been excluded from hiring decisions in ways that caused confusion for candidates, and that work absences, including approved absences from board meetings to attend law school classes, were aggressively questioned.

The documents show Mahon questioned Ake-Little’s communications with district leaders and staff and argued that communication failures led to poor job performance.

An investigation by attorney Kenneth Roos into the subsequent retaliation complaint found “no substantive evidence of retaliation” but did reveal “multiple performance deficiency issues on the part of Dr. Mahon in connection with the allegations made by Dr. Ake-Little.”

The February complaint has been sent to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, a state agency tasked with investigating allegations of discrimination. The case remains open before the PHRC; once the state agency closes its case, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will review the findings.

Challenge to the board president

Rising conflict between the board and superintendent has been matched by escalating tension between board members, with questions regarding Gehman’s leadership coming to a head at the most recent meeting June 9.

At that meeting, five board members — Wayock, Nicole King, Stephen Maund, Mary Joy Reinartz and Melissa Torba — voted to approve a resolution to start the process to remove Gehman as president.

Gehman was absent due to illness and board member Eric Boyer, who usually sides with her, was out of town. Members Timothy Kearney and Candi Kruse voted against the resolution.

As a result, the board plans to issue a notice to Gehman, who has the right to a hearing if the board proceeds with removing her as president.

When contacted by The Morning Call, Gehman sent this statement: “I’ve served the Board with integrity through many unprecedented situations for the last decade. I’ve taken the time to understand policy and law that govern public education and act in the best interest of this community. I think it is a shame some fellow board members would prioritize personal and political agendas during such a critical moment for our district. This last minute vote, taken in my absence, reflects individual ambitions and sows division. These actions do not center on students, but manufacture distractions.”

In a separate statement, Kearney said he found the vote to be “unnecessary, which is why I voted no,” and said he’d rather focus on “working collaboratively” on issues before the board.

Public discord between Gehman and Mahon has also divided the board. In a heated exchange during the Feb. 10 meeting, several members pushed back on Gehman’s criticisms of Mahon’s leadership.

“Chastising the superintendent publicly is totally inappropriate because you don’t have all the information and facts,” Reinartz said.

Gehman’s pointed comments toward the superintendent continued during the Feb. 24 meeting — the last before Mahon went on leave — in which she called out the superintendent for “intentional miscommunication” and “poor leadership.” As one example, she said Mahon provided “incomplete information” to the board regarding a Language Learning Network contract.

That contract had been a proposed solution to the need to find a long-term substitute for the high school’s Spanish department. The Feb. 10 meeting included extended debate about the handling of that candidate search and whether or not virtual teachers should have been considered.

The documents provided to The Morning Call include emails sent between Language Learning Network CEO Sean Kreyling and Gehman in the days leading up to the Feb. 24 board meeting.

In a Feb. 20 email, Kreyling indicates the contract fell apart because of Mahon.

“As I shared during our call, we have decided not to move forward with Southern Lehigh High School because of the superintendent’s tone and attitude,” he wrote. “That being said, we would be happy to reconsider the possibility of a partnership in the event that your district has a change in leadership.”

Technology rollout criticized

Before Mahon was placed on leave, the board also heard concerns that the student information system he oversaw the implementation of, Infinite Campus, created multiple serious logistical issues.

At the Feb. 24 board meeting, Matt Greenawald, vice president of the teachers union, called the new system “nothing short of a nightmare for our staff.”

The issues Greenawald described include an inability to effectively use the system to monitor progress for special education students, missing data that forced guidance counselors to manually create transcripts for seniors, and course scheduling delays.

“Bottom line, this is not what we paid for as a district. The system is more expensive than what we had in the past, and yet it’s not producing the benefits that we deserve,” Greenawald said. “From Day 1, we’ve questioned why are we not holding Infinite Campus accountable? Why are we continuing to pay for a product that’s not meeting our needs with the features that were promised to us as a district?”

After a heated back-and-forth with board members, Mahon said that the district is still addressing data quality issues but that he saw the district as “largely committed” to Infinite Campus.

“I am responsible for everything that happens in this school district. I own it, all right, and I think that far more great things have happened than haven’t,” Mahon said. “I’m not happy with Infinite Campus, but I also think that if given the opportunity to sit down and say, ‘How did you respond to this,’ that I could come up with a case that maybe says we did a good job dealing with a very bad situation.”

When contacted by The Morning Call, Mahon also declined to comment on the Infinite Campus concerns and his status as superintendent.

Mahon’s appointment, with a salary of $180,000, runs through June 30, 2026. The board promoted Assistant Superintendent Karen Trinkle to substitute superintendent in March and approved a pay raise that brought her salary to $176,613.

Reporter Elizabeth DeOrnellas can be reached at edeornellas@mcall.com.

Local News ‘Be warned, they will come for you’: Anonymous report alleges toxic workplace environment in Boston schools The 118-page report details the experiences of more than 100 current and former staffers in the Boston Public Schools Central Office. The exterior of Boston Public School headquarters where most administrative departments, including those of the Superintendent and School Committee, are located in the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)

More than 100 current and former Boston Public Schools staffers allege rampant workplace abuse, including racist and sexist retaliation in the form of administrative leave and termination, in a newly released report.

The 118-page report was presented to the Boston School Committee and Superintendent Mary Skipper Monday night and details experiences from current and former employees in the BPS Central Office. It was compiled by the Coalition for Accountability and Justice.

Deb Falzoi, a workplace safety advocate, told Skipper and Committee members that the report “describes a racist, sexist, and hostile work environment.”

“The report exposes that the system is working exactly as it is intended for white supremacy,” Falzoi said. “With school buildings crumbling and student achievement at alarming levels, this waste with no accountability for the Central Office of BPS is inexcusable.”

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Falzoi spoke during the meeting’s public comment period. Committee members and Skipper did not respond or react to the report during Monday’s meeting.

“Orchestrated and intentional” discipline against educators of color

Just before Skipper became superintendent in 2022, she and Acting Superintendent Drew Echelson were warned internally that senior administrators of color were being targeted and placed on paid administrative leave. Chief Equity & Strategy Officer Charles Grandson recommended that BPS begin an external investigation.

“I am concerned about what appears to be a pattern that has a disproportionate impact on senior leaders of color,” Grandson wrote in 2022. He has since left his position, and no one has replaced him, according to the Coalition for Accountability and Justice.

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Later the same month, a dozen retired school leaders, signed as Concerned Educators of Color, said the district was “weaponizing” investigatory meetings and placing leaders of color on administrative leave. Prominent retired educator Albert Holland’s signature appears first, according to the letter as shared by Schoolyard News.

“These cases seem to be orchestrated and intentional, primarily to deliver a message of fear and intimidation, a message that you will be discredited and destroyed if you speak out against racist and ineffective policies and practices,” said the letter, which was addressed to Skipper.

BPS hired an external law firm to investigate the claims that fall, and Skipper said the district was committed to dismantling “institutional racism,” The Boston Globe reported. The report, which came out in August 2023, could not determine any racial biases because the data set was too small, but did find that BPS lacked clear guidelines for discipline.

“The absence of a formalized process also renders (paid administrative leave) determinations vulnerable to bias-based decision-making while also leaving aggrieved employees with little recourse to challenge the determination itself,” the report said.

Testimonies: Educators forced out after raising concerns

Since then, two district leaders of color took their cases to Suffolk Superior Court after they were both placed on paid administrative leave before their termination.

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Aketa Narang Kapur, who identifies as a South Asian woman was terminated after she raised concerns over advancing hundreds of unprepared students learning English to a regular classroom, she claims in a lawsuit against the district.

“BPS manufactured various policy violations related to procurement policies and conflict of interest, ignoring Kapur’s years of service and spotless personnel record,” the complaint said. “BPS abruptly placed her on administrative leave, engaged in a sham investigation, and ultimately forced her out of BPS.”

Last month, a Black former administrator at the James F. Condon School in South Boston filed a suit alleging the district didn’t support him after he was targeted by racist staff with sexual assault allegations. James Lambert III was terminated shortly after giving a last-minute graduation speech where he referenced racism he faced as an educator, the complaint alleges.

In the new report, the Coalition for Accountability and Justice shared nine “case examples” of employees’ experiences, including Kapur’s and Lambert’s.

Jordan Clark, who spoke at the Committee meeting Monday, told Boston.com he shared his experience as a program manager in the Central Office as “Case Example 7” in the report. He said he was placed on administrative leave and then terminated in January after concerns were raised about his service dog.

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“They didn’t want me back … I know what you’re doing, and yet I know that I need a job,” Clark told Boston.com. “(BPS put) me in a position to have to make a choice, to stop being me and stop asking questions and just accept.”

Another case example was a long-time principal being placed on paid administrative leave after raising concerns about grade reconfiguration at their school, according to the report. Another principal wrote that they were “blindsided” when they were immediately removed from their position due to “manufactured allegations.”

“A word of caution to all current and future BPS district leaders, principals and heads of school who are women and people of color: Be warned, they will come for you,” the principal wrote. “If they set their eyes on you, they will find a way to target you, manufacture a case against you, and push you out.”

BPS did not reply to a request for comment.

Molly Farrar Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.

When Kim Bell and her family moved to Castle Rock a decade ago, they chose their house partly because it was within walking distance of a highly-rated school. She had no idea how much she’d come to regret that decision by the time her son finished second grade.

“Our hope,” Bell said, “was that my son, who has special needs and was nonverbal at the time, would have been able to attend our neighborhood school and have his educational and development needs met.”

But she said those hopes were dashed when she discovered that a group of boys at Soaring Hawk Elementary had pulled her son’s hoodie over his head and stomped on his fingers. She didn’t find out from the school. Another mom had brought it up months after the incident during a casual conversation at soccer practice.

“I asked my friend, what are you talking about? Are you talking about my son? And she said, ‘Yes, I assumed you knew’,” Bell said.

“But I had no idea what she was talking about.”

Bell learned her son was taken to the nurse, and a teacher’s aide who supervised recess was told about the incident. But she was devastated that no one, including Soaring Hawk’s principal, Stacey Roberson, told her about it.

“As soon as he could, my husband contacted Roberson to ask why they weren’t notified. Roberson told him that he had dealt with the situation, and the boys had been addressed by their parents,” Bell said.

“Roberson told my husband that he’d written in his notes that he had reached out.”

But, when Bell investigated further, she learned that none of her son’s teachers, including his speech and occupational therapists, knew anything had happened.

The experience left her feeling betrayed by Roberson and scared to send her child back to the school.

She’s not alone.

In August, Ben Isler, whose daughters attend Soaring Hawk, told the Douglas County school board in a public meeting that his family had watched the school’s culture and quality of education crumble in the years since Roberson took over as the head administrator.

“Sam (Ben’s wife) has spoken with 23 current families and former teachers and staff who paint a picture of harassment, inappropriate comments by leadership, veiled threats, a fear of retaliation for speaking up, and perhaps most importantly, a failure to report troubling incidents,” he said.

Data from the Colorado Department of Education shows Soaring Hawk’s enrollment has dropped 24% from 584 students in 2018 to 440 in 2024. The average enrollment decline in the district for the same period is 8.8%. A nearby elementary school, Clear Sky enrollment, dropped 12%, while total enrollment at Meadow View Elementary, the other neighborhood school in the area, has increased by 3%.

The Islers said they turned to the school board after hitting a brick wall of silence from those in district administration who could respond to their concerns. The school board didn’t respond to the Islers, but they heard from Assistant Superintendent Danny Windsor soon after.

Windsor told the Islers that the district’s human resources team would investigate. They planned to host one-on-one listening sessions between leadership and school staff at Soaring Hawk to address their concerns.

Windsor told the Islers that Roberson was receiving mentoring from the district’s executive director of schools for the Castle Rock region, Erin McDonald.

He also promised that the district would send a community survey to current families attending the school to understand their feelings about the school’s culture.

While the listening sessions have taken place, the parent and community survey has yet to go out, and a records request asking for documentation regarding the mentoring given to Roberson by McDonald turned up empty.

Former and current staff said they’ve filed complaints regarding Roberson’s behavior for years, leaving many to question if any action taken now is too little too late.

The district refused to answer a public records request asking how many formal complaints Roberson has received since becoming the school’s principal, stating that such records are exempt from disclosure under state law.

“Any concern brought to our attention is thoroughly investigated,” district spokesperson Paula Hans said. “Upon receiving a concern or complaint, we take swift action, impose responsive measures as appropriate and protect the privacy of those involved.”

Hans added, “We take immediate, responsive measures when a concern or complaint is brought to our attention. As part of DCSD’s culture and climate norms, we address concerns the right way and presume positive intent. We applaud the work of our teachers, principals and staff, and what they do for our students every day.”

Roberson chose not to comment on the allegations.

Teachers and staff allege toxic work environment

The Douglas County News-Press spoke to seven current and former teachers, many of whom requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by Roberson or the district’s administration.

Each staff member said they’d faced a litany of emotional abuse, including gaslighting, intimidation and angry outbursts while working for Roberson. They speculated that many of the staff members they came to love and appreciate left the school and sought employment elsewhere.

“Roberson has created a hostile workplace for many teachers who have left and a handful of those still there,” Holly Norlin, who recently retired from Soaring Hawk after 20 years at the school, said. “He is a bully, and thus far, the district has chosen to look the other way or sweep these complaints under the carpet.”

Norlin said Roberson made “inappropriate and rude comments in front of parents and staff about my organizational skills, which he knew I was sensitive about because I have ADHD.”

In 2021, she filed a formal complaint with Human Resources describing how, despite annual proficient job evaluations, Roberson imposed unnecessary and unwarranted job changes and placements with her position each year, causing physical, mental and emotional stress.

Norlin said she repeatedly heard, “he’s the boss,” in response to her complaints.

The Douglas County News-Press has yet to receive a Sept. 5 public records request seeking the number of staff members who have left in the six years since Roberson became principal.

Research has found that many of the primary reasons for teacher turnover were related to school climate, including inadequate support from administrators, limited faculty input and student discipline problems.

One former Soaring Hawk teacher asked to remain anonymous because she said her experience with Roberson was so traumatizing that she had to seek counseling to put it behind her. She feared he would retaliate against her.

She tried to bring her concerns to Dion Killingsworth, the district’s employee relations director, but Killingsworth said he had 3,300 teachers to oversee and was too busy to go back and forth with her to find a mutual time to meet.

Another teacher said she left the school after Roberson made her feel she wasn’t valued. She said Roberson would get red-faced and angry in meetings, pounding on the table and yelling. After one meeting, she was so shaken she couldn’t continue teaching.

Norlin said that since speaking openly about her frustrations with Roberson, he barred her from substitute teaching at the school, and Killingsworth told her that if she continued talking about Roberson with staff or families, she could be asked to leave the district as a substitute.

Unsafe environment for staff and students

Cary Biondolillo, a former law enforcement officer who worked as a teacher in the school’s Affective Needs program from 2022-2023, said he was also exposed to unsafe behavior under Roberson’s watch.

“I was probably assaulted 20 times in that year, as were many other people, and almost every single one of these occurred on camera,” Biondolillo said.

Biondolillo said the most disturbing incident occurred on May 3, 2023, when a student stabbed him in the chest with a pair of plastic tweezers while the class was on the playground.

“The next thing I know, he stabbed me in the chest with these tweezers,” Biondolillo said. “They didn’t break my skin, but it doesn’t matter. I was stabbed. So then he starts slashing at my face, and I’m trying to defend myself, but no one can help because the other staff members hadn’t been trained in crisis prevention yet.”

The district requires all staff in Affective Needs programs, specialized educational programs designed to support students with significant emotional, behavioral or social challenges, to complete training through the Crisis Prevention Institute.

According to Biondolillo, other staff in the AN classroom did not complete training until February of that year. He also said staff had to retain the student in front of the entire second grade to stop the attack.

Colorado law requires school staff to submit a written report to school administration within one school day of any incident where restraint is used.

Information obtained through a public records request shows that Soaring Hawk recorded 27 incidents of restraint and 13 seclusions where the student was blocked from exiting the room in the 2022-2023 school year.

By comparison, the school documented seven restraints and one seclusion from 2017 to 2022.

The district denied a request for a copy of the stabbing incident report involving Biondillo with the student information redacted, citing the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.

Yet, when Biondillo made the same request, he received an email from the district stating that no such records existed. Biondillo also said when he told McDonald he thought Roberson never documented the stabbing, McDonald responded that the “incident was reported correctly and fully as per our district requirements.”

A teacher who worked in the AN program that year confirmed the incident happened, as Biondillo described.

Biondolillo also provided the Douglas County News-Press with a copy of an email he sent to Roberson the day after the stabbing incident.

In the email, Biondolillo requested to move to a different role and expressed frustration over the lack of training and that the entire AN department was leaving at the end of the year. Biondolillo said Roberson never responded.

Failure to respond to bullying

Parents, teachers and staff described a lack of support from the school’s administration and Roberson in addressing student bullying.

Beth, a parent who wanted to be identified only by her first name, said in an August email to the district that her daughter had four different teachers in 5th grade and felt unsafe in her classroom.

“Kids threw chairs, overturned desks and used very vulgar language,” Beth said. “Their behaviors were overlooked with constant threats, but nothing was actually done. One teacher, who was an assistant they kept using to fill in, had no idea how to manage the classroom and was constantly yelling and slamming books on the desk.”

Beth said she met with Roberson several times that year, but nothing changed. She eventually homeschooled her daughter for the last six weeks of school rather than spend another day in that classroom.

“We wanted to use the neighborhood school,” Beth said. “It should be an excellent school, especially with the amazing families and teachers that were part of that community when we started. It’s now completely torn apart, and all the families that supported the school are gone.”

Another parent, who works at the school and didn’t wish to be named for fear she’d be fired, said she had multiple interactions with Roberson regarding her son and was shocked by his lack of empathy,

“The fact that he was willing to protect the bully was horrifying. My son went to counseling outside of school, and his therapist told my husband and I that he thought the principal shouldn’t be working with kids because he doesn’t have their best interests in mind.”

According to a paper by the Colorado Department of Education’s School Climate Transformation Office and Colorado State University, “Environments lacking safe and supportive qualities may increase student stress, fear, and trauma, all of which can impair learning.

The paper also states, “​​Most importantly, bullying and school climate strongly impact school violence and shootings. Having a positive school climate where students and staff feel safe and connected ensures a secure educational environment for all.”