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Date: 11/27/2023
AMHERST — With their release this month and public access now confirmed, the redacted versions of five related Title IX investigation reports into allegations of improper conduct by staffers towards student members of the LGBTQIA+ community at Amherst Middle School are now open to universal scrutiny.
Investigator Ed Mitnick of Springfield-based Just Training Solutions authored the Title IX report content in which he concluded, “Sufficient credible evidence exists to support the allegation that [Amherst-Pelham Regional Public Schools] officials failed to appropriately respond to and effectively address allegations of harassment and misconduct by staff toward students based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”
After public records requests submitted to the district were initially refused for confidentiality reasons based on the premise that information contained personnel matters and content, an appeal to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office resulted in a determination that the reports were public record and should be released with appropriate redactions made.
A unanimous vote by the Regional School Committee at the Nov. 15 meeting instructed the superintendent to release the reports for online publication as public documents.
On her blog website, committee member Jennifer Shiao stated that the committee members were only afforded access to one of the redacted reports prior to them being posted online for public viewing.
“The other four reports were not made available to us prior to being posted publicly on Friday November 17,” Shiao wrote.
The Title IX investigation was initiated in April amid claims that three middle school staff members, Guidance Counselors Delinda Dykes, Tania Cabrera and Adjustment Counselor Hector Santos had engaged in varying degrees of transphobic and harassing behavior towards LGBTQIA+ students. The three staff members were placed on administrative leave.
Allegations outlining improper conduct including that of a retaliatory nature were also made against then Assistant Superintendent Doreen Cunningham with details not readily made available.
Superintendent Michael Morris took a medical leave with Finance Director Douglas Slaughter appointed to fill the temporary vacancy. Cunningham was immediately placed on administrative leave by Slaughter.
Morris returned to his post in July but then stepped down permanently the following month in an agreement with the school committee. Following Morris’s departure, three Amherst and one Pelham School Committee members resigned from their posts.
Cunningham and educator Lamikco Magee filed discrimination complaints against the district, Morris and Slaughter. Magee resigned her position in July, Cunningham separated from the district in October.
As indicated in the reports, Mitnick outlined a series of events which sustained allegations of misgendering of students, inappropriate areas of counsel and conversation between staff members and students as well a reluctance to report suspected behaviors over concerns of reprisal.
“This investigator’s general impression is that many staff at ARMS are hesitant or unwilling to report incidents of inappropriate conduct by certain staff toward students for fear of retaliation,” he wrote. “I further found this culture of fear and intimidation among staff at ARMS of reporting concerns of this nature to be both severe and pervasive. On two separate occasions, the school district commenced investigations into allegations that Delinda Dykes engaged in offensive conduct based on sexual orientation. I find both of these investigations to be deficient and constitute a failure of the School District to take prompt effective action in response to legitimate concerns of inappropriate behavior.”
Multiple findings backed the initial claims of improper conduct by Cunningham, Dykes and Santos as indicated and outlined in Mitnick’s reports:
“Sufficient credible evidence exists to support the conclusion that Doreen Cunningham engaged in retaliatory conduct against a paraeducator in violation of Policies ACC and ACAP after the paraeducator complained about alleged inappropriate conduct by Delinda Dykes toward LGBTQ+ students.”
A similar conclusion was found to exist supporting claims that Cunningham,” engaged in unprofessional and offensive conduct … when she assisted in creating a highly demeaning and inflammatory flyer disseminated at the School Committee.
Credible evidence also supported conclusions against Santos, alleging he “engaged in severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive unwelcome conduct by repeatedly misgendering a student on numerous occasions in front of the student, their parent, and ARMS staff.”
Findings against Santos also supported allegations that he violated the ARPS’s Harassment Prevention and Standards of Conduct Policy, “when he made religious references to students during counseling sessions.”
In a similar finding towards Dykes, Mitnick’s conclusion supported, “the allegation that Delinda Dykes engaged in offensive conduct in violation of ARPS’s Title IX Policy. In particular, I conclude Dykes engaged in severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive unwelcome conduct by repeatedly misgendering students as well as making offensive and inappropriate comments related to gender and sexual orientation.”
Mitnick wrote that evidence was also found to support allegations that Dykes, “made offensive references about race to staff” and that both Dykes and Santos violated policy, “when they spread rumors and made comments about coworkers practicing witchcraft in the Amherst Regional Middle School.”
In regard to concerns that many of the claims and allegations went unreported or were underreported by those with knowledge, the investigation came to additional conclusions.
“Staff also expressed concerns that if they reported any allegations of inappropriate conduct, particularly with respect to Doreen Cunningham, they would be accused of racism. Except where noted, this investigator has not made any findings or conclusions as to the particular allegations of employees engaging in 'racist' behavior. However, I do believe these statements exemplify the perception that staff are fearful of being labeled racist if they complained about Dykes, Santos or Cunningham. Specifically, a teacher presently working at ARMS stated, 'if we said anything about any process about personnel' then those people would be called a 'racist.'”
Staff also alleged that Dykes would inappropriately accuse them of engaging in racist conduct.
Other allegations against Dykes and Santos were found not to be supported by the evidence and no allegations were supported or found to be credible against Cabrera.
“Insufficient credible evidence exists to support the allegation that Tania Cabrera engaged in offensive conduct in violation of ARPS’s Title IX Policy, Mitnick indicated in his report. “In particular, insufficient credible evidence exists that Cabrera engaged in severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive unwelcomed conduct based on sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity.”
In his summary, Mitnick stated that interviews were conducted with 83 individuals over the course of his investigations. Among them were students, parents, educators, administrators and staff as well as former district employees. More than 1,000 documents and emails were also subject to review.
Mitnick’s report also made note of positive conduct on the part of many members of the middle school workforce.
“Notwithstanding, most of the staff at ARMS indicated many people in the school were doing a lot of great work for LGBTQ students and striving to create a culture of respect and safety. One teacher noted, ‘an incredible amount of work done by staff to make a welcoming environment’ toward LGBTQ students,” he wrote. “As examples, this teacher claimed many teachers regularly do pronoun checks and adopt curriculum to be more inclusive. However, this teacher also indicated other staff often misgender the students, which poses a ‘challenge’ to creating a safe and comfortable environment.”
The report also emphasized that specific allegations raised against Dykes and Santos were addressed in reports to the superintendent and not included in the findings nor were, “Santos and Dykes’ denials and objections to many of the allegations made against them.”