Marblehead Superintendent Addresses Student Restraint Incident, 4 Staff Placed On Leave

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead Interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness on Thursday night publicly addressed how the district is responding to the restraint of a general education student at the Glover School and the four staff members placed on paid administrative leave pending a review of district guidelines.

She also announced that Veterans Middle School Principal Matthew Fox will be taking over for Glover Principal Hope Doran, who McGuinness said took a medical leave as of Tuesday.

"I would like to begin by saying that all of our students — whether they are enrolling from California, or Portugal, or Boston — are all a meaningful part of the Marblehead community once they are enrolled in our district," McGuinness said at Thursday night's School Committee meeting. "We are very fortunate to have all of them here. We respect, and we teach, and we care for each of our students deeply."

She then went on to announce Fox's transition to acting principal through winter break while a search begins for an acting principal for the duration of Doran's leave, which McGuinness said will be for an undefined time.

She said there was a medical emergency involving a student at the school this week but did not indicate whether that medical emergency was related to the student who was restrained. She said the medical emergency "has now resolved" and that the details surrounding it are confidential.

There was a meeting with the Glover parents and school community held earlier Thursday with McGuinness saying that another meeting "to discuss our progress" will be held before winter break.

On the restrained student, she said: "As a district, we want to review when student restraint should be used, the procedures that should be used during those restraints, and we want to ensure that this administrative review is thorough and unbiased."

She said the district has secured the services of an outside, third-party provider who is an attorney who specializes in education policy.

"We will be transparent and forthcoming in so far as the law allows," she said of the protocol review. "This includes full transparency when making the administrative review documents available upon request when completed with only legally required redactions. We will use the data from this report to create and prioritize an action plan to make changes likely in policies, practices, training, professional development and myriad areas.

"I want you to know that my administrative team has spent the last two full days at the Glover School and we have felt, and we have observed, the love and the care of the staff there and of the entire Glover team. We've met with the Glover faculty both (Wednesday) and again (Thursday) and I have to tell you that (Thursday) felt a lot better in terms of us moving through these challenges together."

McGuinness noted that she has only been in her position for "about a month" and "have not had the luxury to get to know the lay of the land, all of the important leaders in the town. However, I have met with a lot of them in a short time. I've needed to hit the ground running and believe I have done just that."

She said she has felt compelled to be "building the plane as it is in the air" in putting together an entry plan on the fly.

"I have loved my first month here as your superintendent and I have also noted some areas it is clear that we've needed to improve," she said. "In my short time here, of one month, it has become clear to me that the district is lacking in a number of procedures and protocols necessary for a district to run smoothly.

"While continuing to run the district as efficiently and effectively as possible, I along with my leadership team, will be working on revising and creating the necessary protocols and procedures to ensure that we are all on the same page, that our teachers have all that they need for resources and support to ensure an excellent education for all of our students."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)