Nearly four hours of testimony offered plenty of information surrounding the Barrington School Committee’s vaccine mandate.

What we learned …

• The Barrington School District’s “Re-Entry Task Force” did not recommend a vaccine mandate for teachers. Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore and School Committee Chairwoman Gina Bae did. (During an exchange, attorney Greg Piccirilli asked Messore who developed the district’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate policy. Messore’s first response was legal counsel. Upon further questioning, Messore said he and Bae met on Aug. 19 and wrote an earlier version of the policy.)
• Barrington Schools Director of Finance Doug Fiore and Messore made the decision to deny the three unvaccinated teachers’ religious exemption requests. Fiore said the district’s legal counsel had been present during meetings where the requests were discussed, but added that he and Messore made the decision.
• Dr. Megan Douglas is both a school committee member and a medical expert when she sits on boards like the district's "Re-entry Task Force." Under questioning, Messore was asked if Douglas advised the district as a medical expert. Messore said she was offering medical “opinions” to the district.
• The administration and the teachers’ union both ratified a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the 2022-23 school year, and there is disagreement over how clearly that MOA delineated the vaccine mandate for teachers. Specifically, the MOA refers to “various mandates.”
• Two of the three fired teachers are currently employed at Barrington Christian Academy, though neither is working in their area of expertise. The third said she has been looking for work but has not been able to find a suitable position.
• The school district did not replace the three teachers with similarly qualified teachers until months after they were suspended and put on unpaid leave. The district contends that students suffered during that period of time because the district was graciously holding those teaching slots open in hopes the teachers would get vaccinated. The district’s attorney specifically questioned one of the teachers about whether she was aware she was hurting students when she refused to get a vaccine. The teachers contend that students suffered because the district could not find qualified replacements for months.
• One of two Reading Specialist positions at Hampden Meadows School was vacant for months, and students who qualified for individualized reading support services did not receive those services for months.
• Because the district’s policy did not specify consequences for failure to get vaccinated, the district had the power to interpret its own policy, and leeway to pursue options other than termination. In fact, in its suspension letters to the three teachers, the district stated that the employees could suggest options other than termination.
• Though all three teachers requested “religious” exemptions from the vaccination mandate, their religious claims were never part of the decision to suspend and terminate their employment. Instead, the district fired them because a) they were considered a risk to students; b) they were considered a risk to co-workers; and c) maintaining their employment would place an undue burden on the district. This last reason refers to the differences in mandatory quarantine rules for vaccinated vs. unvaccinated staff.

What we think we learned …

• Not all in the administration were aware of the mandate to either get vaccinated or face termination. Sowams School special education teacher Brittany DiOrio said she met with and talked to Principal Jim Callahan multiple times prior to her suspension, and he was “speechless” when he learned that she was in the process of being fired. Mr. Callahan was never called as a witness to verify this, but this testimony was also never disputed or subject to cross-examination.

What remains in question …

• Whether the School Committee conducted a proper closed-door meeting when it met in Executive Session on Oct. 14, 2021. Piccirilli referred to an email sent by Director of Finance Doug Fiore to teacher Stephanie Hines on Oct. 12. In it, Fiore wrote that officials were meeting with the school committee to clarify the policy. Mr. Fiore did not share many insights on what took place in that closed-door meeting, specifically whether the school committee and administration talked about their policy for handling exemption requests, or whether they talked about the three specific cases from these three teachers. The official agenda for that meeting said they met in executive session to review the “Implementation of Committee COVID-19 vaccine mandate/exemption requests.”