Former Boston police commissioner releases report on Uxbridge school dysfunction

UXBRIDGE — A company founded by the former Boston police superintendent has released its report on the main causes that led to the sudden resignations of six Uxbridge School Committee members in the spring.

The findings of the Edward Davis Co. were published in a 94-page report that reviewed text messages and emails, social media posts and recordings of School Committee meetings, and interviews with current and former committee members, school administrators and town leaders.

The report concluded that the two main reasons for the resignations were likely the superintendent’s “perceived unwillingness to participate in his agreed evaluation process and his implied threat of a potential civil rights claim against some School Committee members within the same time period.”

Investigators provided a timeline of events that led up to the resignations of committee members Bernard Audette, Christine Pezzullo, Patrick Tuer, Lisa Mobley, John Rota and Tiffany Bashaw.

After hiring Michael Baldassarre as superintendent in June 2022 on an interim contract, members voted to approve a one-year contract with a three-year option in January.

In October 2022, Baldassarre and the committee discussed and agreed upon a set of goals and ways of measuring whether he was achieving them.

“It seemed the School Committee members wanted to put measures in place to allow a fair and thorough evaluation of Dr. Baldassarre,” the report found.

In April, discussions about the evaluation began, with Baldassarre initially agreeing with a timeline and process presented to him by the committee.

But not long after, he began to push back on the timing and process of the evaluation and the committee members who would be involved in the evaluation itself.

"School Committee members who agreed to be interviewed expressed frustration with Dr. Baldassarre's unwillingness to engage in his evaluation process," the report said. It does not clarify which members agreed to be interviewed.

The report does, however, include emails between Baldassarre, Audette and Mobley.

The emails show the superintendent raising concerns about "the fairness of the School Committee providing him with an annual evaluation of said goals after only six (6) months, rather than giving him until the end of the school year.”

He also objected to being questioned for the evaluation by two School Committee members who served for “just 16 weeks," and being evaluated before the end of the school year "in which there had been four Uxbridge School Committee Chairs in just around 6 months' time."

Audette submitted his resignation letter shortly after Baldassarre objected to the timing of the evaluation. Mobley then became chair of the committee.

Baldassarre was given some extra time to submit evidence for the evaluation, but requested that the evaluation be postponed, saying that he and Audette had been working on extending the deadline and that Baldassarre still had many unanswered questions.

Threats of civil rights lawsuit

While disputes about the superintendent evaluation were ongoing, the threat of lawsuits also posed a problem for committee members, the report said.

One involved the enrollment of a student with special needs who had moved to another district.

In September 2022, Baldassarre allowed the family to keep their child enrolled in the district because their new home district was not able to provide services the child needed, and the family intended to move back to Uxbridge.

By December, the superintendent in the other district had agreed to cover the tuition cost for the child attending Uxbridge schools.

Meanwhile, a School Committee member heard concerns from another parent about a student attending preschool program despite not living in town. That led at least one School Committee member to raise questions.

Committee members contacted legal counsel to inquire about allowing the student to stay in Uxbridge schools. Investigators could not determine if the inquiry was made as a result of a vote of the full School Committee.

Following the inquiry, a disciplinary letter directed at Baldassarre was considered for violating policy, but Baldassarre responded that a superintendent was allowed to make decisions outside of policy when they "are in the interest of certain students during the COVID-19 pandemic."

It was also determined that nonresident students could enroll in local schools if the student's home district pays the tuition.

Later, at a School Committee meeting in April, an agenda item related to school choice was discussed. During the discussion Baldassarre said, "I'm not comfortable talking about this."

The report said a discussion on the topic continued, but there was never a "direct or indirect mention of an individual student."

But in the days after the meeting, the mother of the nonresident student emailed the School Committee, saying that Baldassarre had brought it to their attention that the committee, particularly former member Pezzullo, had breached the privacy of their child when discussing the topic of school choice.

Pezzullo responded to the mother and the other unidentified members of the email chain, saying she took the allegations "very serious" and wanted to schedule a meeting.

Mobley sent an email to "an undisclosed group of individuals" to discuss the allegations leveled by the mother.

"She (Pezzullo) never mentioned a grade level. She never mentioned a name. It was the superintendent who 'did not feel comfortable discussing as he stated it identified a child,' “ the email said. "It was that statement that potentially violated confidentiality."

She also said "his grad (sic) standing and hostility toward the committee along with the evidence of his poor behavior is disgusting."

On April 30 and May 1, Baldassarre sent two email invites to Pezzullo for a meeting with the mother. Pezzullo submitted her resignation letter the day the second invite came. Her resignation came the day after Tuer resigned.

Investigators interviewed the mother and reviewed documents, emails and recordings of public meetings to "determine facts" from her perspective.

The mother said she initially believed the superintendent was trying to "protect" her child and benefit her by not disrupting her education.

But after being encouraged by a member of the community to speak with the former committee members, she said she believed "the violation of her daughter’s rights came from Dr. Baldassarre when he exploited the child’s protection for his own advantage by lying to the school committee members."

The report said the mother sat down with Baldassarre for a conversation over Zoom, during which he informed her that "she may have a cause of action against certain former school committee members for violating her child's civil rights."

Following the resignation of the six School Committee members, the mother became concerned.

The mother said she "felt horrible" they were fearful of being sued and "understood why the members of the school committee had been leaving and was horrified."

The mother filed a claim against Baldassarre in June with the U.S. Department of Education.

Committee members told the investigators there was a "perception" Baldassarre was encouraging lawsuits against members by claiming the child's civil rights had been violated.

There is a belief, the report said, that the issue was brought up to intimidate School Committee members and to delay or prevent Baldassarre's evaluation.

Superintendent accuses School Committee members of threats

Aside from the enrollment issue, the report also mentioned emails between Baldassarre and Audette, which occurred two days before Audette's resignation.

In them, Baldassarre accused Tuer of sending a threatening text message about his employment, telling him that "the mother of a disabled child 'won't pay your bills if this doesn't work out.' "

He also wrote that Tuer "filed a false complaint" against him in March, and that he seemed to "physically lean into" Baldassarre, which he said could be seen in a School Committee video.

He told Audette it would be “wise” to have a third-party investigation into Tuer’s actions because he thought he was retaliating against Baldassarre over his “advocacy for a disabled child.” He also requested his evaluation be postponed in the email.

Baldassarre filed a formal complaint against Mobley on May 2, the report shows.

The complaint came after Mobley had emailed Baldassarre instructing him to, among other things, not hold negotiations with the Uxbridge Teachers’ Association, file evidence for his evaluation and recommend that he not meet with the mother of the child with special needs “as that was recommended by district counsel."

Baldassarre responded that Mobley's statements came off as “threatening, hostile, and retaliatory.”

“You have put me in a state of fear,” Baldassarre wrote.

That same day, Mobley resigned from the committee. The same day, John Rota and Tiffany Bashaw also resigned.

Other possible factors in resignations

The report covered other areas that may have led to the resignations of the six committee members.

These included disputes about the hiring of a former committee member to be the committee's recording secretary and a decline in demeanor and preparedness by the superintendent.

Investigators also interviewed community members, who spoke about their concern over Baldassarre’s “little or no follow-through” on building an accessible playground at Taft Elementary School.

An email from Kara Guy, who the report identified as a member of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council, to Audette and Mobley said she was concerned that the project would not gain approval.

“I would hope our town could work together and find some compromise and common ground to make this happen, even if the Superintendent is failing to deliver,” she wrote.

On Friday, Guy said she thought the former committee members did the best they could to "protect" Uxbridge from Baldassarre's "unprofessional behavior."

"The former School Committee was a group of volunteers who were tasked with managing an erratic, unprofessional and self-serving superintendent," she said. "Michael Baldassarre clearly indicated to EDC in the report that he thought a child's rights were violated but he chose to ignore this because it would be 'career suicide.' "

These concerns were only brought up, she said, six months later, when it could "serve him" and to, in her opinion, intimidate the members of the committee who were questioning him, and try to stop his review.

"The current committee needs to realize Michael Baldassarre is only ever trying to protect himself and is not putting our students first," Guy said. "I'd like our town to move forward in the best interest of children and he isn't acting in their best interests, in my opinion."

The report also made recommendations for improvement, including standardizing the superintendent evaluation, establishing a School Committee process related to contact with legal counsel, and trainings through the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

Baldassarre announced the investigation in May, shortly after news of the resignations broke.

According to the invoice, Davis, a senior advisor, and a senior analyst worked a combined 100 hours to complete the investigation.

Asked if he was shocked by anything in the report, Baldassarre said, “No.”

“The report is the report, and it says what it says, and now we're gonna move forward and worry about teaching and learning,” he said. “It's time to focus on the kids, it's time to focus on our teachers. … The report says what it says, why they resigned, we’ll move on.”

School Committee members had previously declined to discuss their resignations, except for Mobley, who alleged she had been "subjected to threats and hostility from the superintendent. At the Uxbridge spring town meeting in May, copies of email exchanges between Mobley and Baldassarre were printed out and passed around.

Select Board member Stephen Mandile has also been vocal in his criticisms of Baldassarre, calling for him to resign, most recently after he was ordered by the superintendent to not trespass on school properties or at off-campus school-related events.

Mandile previously filed a police report against the superintendent, and more recently Baldassarre sought a restraining order in Concord District Court. The pair appeared in court on Thursday. Mandile confirmed Friday the judge denied Baldassarre's request. He also confirmed the no-trespass order is still in place.

Mandile said he read the report and believed it showed "many examples" of Uxbridge residents being subjected to threats and retaliation by the superintendent "any time they asked for accountability."

"It's bothersome that so many Uxbridge residents and families have been negatively impacted by his lack of professionalism," Mandile said. "Uxbridge deserves far better."

After the resignations of the six committee members, for a time, the committee was unable to have meetings because there were not enough members to hold quorum. But following an election in May, the committee again has a full quorum.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Edward Davis Company report on Uxbridge school problems released