Addressing a firestorm over special education teachers who left Dedham Middle School to provide home tutoring for a student in December and January, Superintendent June Doe said yesterday that those instructors' classes were appropriately covered and that students were not shortchanged.
"All educational services were in place for all students while the tutoring occurred," Doe said. "I'm concerned and disturbed by the allegation, or assertion, that the students' needs weren't met."
Doe said she supported the decision by Kathy Gaudreau, interim special education director, that home tutoring was appropriate for an unnamed student during the week before Christmas vacation, and in January until about Jan. 22.
Doe said one special education teacher tutored for about nine days, before a second teacher took over. The tutoring took place between 9 and 11 a.m. most days per week, causing each teacher to miss one prep period and one 45-minute class.
A retired Dedham teacher and a full-time aide provided substitute coverage. "Both teachers left very detailed lesson plans for their classes that were delivered," Doe said.
The superintendent made the comments in a 40-minute interview yesterday afternoon, the most extensive explanation she has given on the special ed controversy.
The issue has percolated on the myDedham blog since February, then was thrust into the spotlight in a Boston Globe article on Sunday. The student who received the tutoring is widely believed to be the child of a School Committee member.
Twenty-eight middle school teachers signed a Feb. 27 letter - sent to the School Committee - asking if the removal of the teachers from their classrooms caused a lapse in special education services, and if parents were informed in the event of such a lapse.
Doe said said she sent individual letters to the teachers reminding them of their legal obligations about confidentiality "and the care that we try to take in preserving the child's and the family's privacy."
"I have great respect for middle school teachers," Doe said, noting that, as a former principal there, she hired many of them.
Daniel Megan, Faculty Council cochairman and one of the 28 teachers behind the letter, told the Globe that "it struck me as a highly unusual move to take a teacher from the school midday."
Megan, who did not respond to requests for comment, told the Globe that the Faculty Council would meet this week to discuss possible legal action.
