PORTLAND — A lawsuit against the Lewiston School Committee and the Lewiston Public Schools superintendent by a former special education director who alleged she was wrongfully fired has settled and been dismissed.
Pamela Boucher of Auburn began working at Lewiston schools in 2012 as a home school social worker. She was promoted to district clinical supervisor in 2014 and to director of special education in 2016.
In 2019, she accepted a contract ending June 30, 2022, according to her amended complaint filed in U.S. District Court on May 2, 2022.
That contract could be terminated by mutual consent at any time and may be terminated by the School Committee for cause as provided by statute, according to the complaint.
No other provisions in the contract gave the school district the authority to terminate the contract, the complaint said.
She signed a new contract in June 2020 that boosted her salary with the same termination terms, the complaint said.
As the director of special education, Boucher was the administrator responsible for directing and implementing special education services to students at every Lewiston public school, according to the complaint.
Those services must comply with specific legal and regulatory requirements. Boucher and her special education staff had the education, training and certifications needed to ensure that services were implemented in accordance with the law, the complaint said.
But, in her complaint, Boucher said Lewiston Public Schools had “a long-standing history of violating the requirements of special education law and violating the civil rights of its students. Specifically, on Feb. 7, 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, Disability Rights Maine, Kids Legal of Pine Tree Legal Assistance and Maine Law/Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic (‘Advocates’) notified Lewiston (Public) Schools of the results of a two-year investigation which found it violated students’ civil rights. Some of the data the Advocates relied on showed discriminatory practices from the 2013-2014 school year.”
Lewiston Public Schools operates seven separate school buildings: Lewiston High School and Lewiston Middle School as well as Connors, McMahon, Farwell, Montello and Gieger elementary schools.
Each building is assigned a principal or administrator, who has full responsibility for all aspects of that administrator’s respective building, including but not limited to staffing, students and operations, Boucher wrote in her complaint.
The Special Education Department is staffed by, among others, special education supervisors, teachers, service providers and educational technicians who work in the various school buildings, she wrote
The department assigns supervisors to oversee special education services and staff at each building. But, Lewiston schools “have implemented a leadership organizational structure that gives non-special education building principals or administrators complete autonomy and authority over programs in the buildings which they operate, including the authority over special education building supervisors,” Boucher wrote.
“The organizational structure implemented by Lewiston schools interferes with and prevents legal, effective and consistent special education services to the students of Lewiston schools,” she wrote.
The superintendent and the School Committee, in their oversight of the schools, “have created a culture where there is a divide between special education staff and general education staff to the determinant of services provided to special education students,” Boucher wrote. “The Lewiston schools have overruled special education administration recommendations in favor of the demands of building principals/supervisors, even when the demands of building principals/supervisors violated special education law. The Lewiston schools have moved special education staff to cover general education assignments, all to the detriment of special education services provided to students,” Boucher wrote.
“The Lewiston schools have further made special education services ineffective by crediting virtually every complaint made by general education leadership and staff, even when those complaints of general education arise out of misunderstanding or misapplication of special education law, and immediately blaming the Special Education Department for the complaint raised,” she wrote in her complaint.
The Lewiston schools, through the practices of its superintendents and the oversight of the School Committee “have created a bias against special education. Boucher is knowledgeable about special education law and consistently performed her work in accordance with the law and what is best for students,” she wrote.
In September 2021, the School Committee voted unanimously to terminate Boucher, following a three-hour executive session for “reasons described in written findings prepared by the School Committee.”
Earlier that day, Boucher had filed her lawsuit against the School Committee and Superintendent K. Jake Langlais alleging wrongful termination.
According to the lawsuit, Boucher received an email from Langlais following an in-person discussion Aug. 19, 2021, during which he informed her that she could choose to resign or have her employment terminated Aug. 21.
Boucher sued for breach of contract and cited the Maine Whistleblower Protection Act. She demanded to be paid the remaining wages in full for the period specified in her employment contract, which would have expired June 30, 2023.
According to court documents, the parties in the lawsuit appeared to come to terms in the case in June after a settlement conference and agreed to dismiss the case on July 27 without attorneys fees awarded to any of the parties.
No details of the settlement were disclosed publicly.
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