Today's Poll: Do you believe the South Hadley School District is obligated to provide financial assistance to Debra Caldieri?
FILE- Early risers gather at dawn for the first 21st Century sunrise in the United States at West Quoddy Head Light, the easternmost point in the United States, in Lubec, Maine, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2000. Hundreds of people braved single digit temperatures to witness the event. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)The Forecast
Today comes with an 80 percent chance of rain. The National Weather Service is forecasting:A morning with showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 10 a.m. A daytime high of 72 degrees and the chance of rain is 80 percent.
Tonight: Showers are likely and a thunderstorm is possible before 8 p.m. Continued showers and thunderstorms are expected into Friday morning.
Today's poll
South Hadley High School is at the center of another controversy involving the late Phoebe Prince, who killed herself in Jan. 2010 after relentless bullying from classmates at the school.
In December, Latin teacher Debra Caldieri, who is credited by Prince's family as one of the few people in the school that stood up for the teenager, went on unpaid medical leave after her multiple sclerosis flared up in the wake of what she describes as harassment and bullying from school administrators.
Caldieri said that the day after Prince's death, the school was in chaos and out of concern for a male student who previously dated Prince, she drove four students off campus to check on him.
She said this incident sparked the beginning of a chain of events, including Principal Daniel T. Smith from not telling her when Prince's funeral was to be held, that ultimately led to her increased stress which flared her medical condition.
On Wednesday, she appeared at a South Hadley School Committee meeting to ask for financial help as one of Prince's aunts has been helping with medical bills since Caldieri's money ran out.
Caldieri said her doctors attribute her decline to the stress she endured in the workplace, but the schools contends that her multiple sclerosis is a "pre-existing condition" and therefore they are not obligated to pay her while she's out.
The school committee recently honored Smith in light of his retirement and approved a three percent raise for Superintendent Gus Sayer, which was just re-approved after the initial vote was found to have illegally taken place in executive session.
To read the full story, click here.
Yesterday's results: On Wednesday, we asked, "Do you agree with the town of Monson's decision to only allow temporary trailers to be placed where residents' destroyed homes once stood?" 34 people voted. 91.18% said an exception to town code should be made for tornado victims and 8.82% said that the law is the law and tornado victims should have no special exception from it.
Wednesday's Top 5
The top 5 headlines on MassLive.com on June 22 were:
- Tornado in the eastern towns [Photo Gallery]
- South Hadley teacher Deb Caldieri claims harassment and bullying from administrators after speaking out in wake of Phoebe Prince suicide
- Best of Prom: Kicks, kilts and camo [Photo Gallery]
- Massachusetts tornadoes aerial photos: Path of the tornado one week later (part 2: Monson, Brimfield, Sturbridge, Southbridge) [Photo Gallery]
- Best of 2011 Prom: Dance-on, Dance-off[Photo Gallery]
Quote of the Day
“I have been actively trying to get an apartment since this happened and I just keep running into dead ends. I need to find a place for me and my kids.”
— A local mother, living at the MassMutual Center, speaking on her struggle to move on after losing everything in the June 1 tornadoes. To read about the housing difficulties facing affected families, click here.