Caldieri taught school in Connecticut before South Hadley hired her to teach high school Latin in 2005. The students who spoke on her behalf to the School Committee said she was know for her devotion to them.
This is an updated version of a story posted at 6:30 this morning.
Former South Hadley Latin teacher Debra Caldieri, left, is seen with her son Sergio at a School Committee meeting in June.SOUTH HADLEY – Debra Caldieri, the South Hadley High School Latin teacher who was closest to Phoebe Prince, has been fired.
Caldieri, 48, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, said she received a letter from School Superintendent Gus Sayer last week informing her that she has been taken off medical leave and terminated.
Her firing came despite a public comment at a June School Committee meeting in which her former students and Caldieri herself made impassioned pleas to at least put her on paid disability leave as she became increasingly destitute. Caldieri said Wednesday that friends have been paying her rent and insurance premiums. Nonetheless, her telephone was disconnected because of her inability to pay her bills and she is unable to support herself and her 16-year-old son.
“I can’t feed my own family,” she said. “I’m just borrowing money from people.”
Caldieri taught school in Connecticut before South Hadley hired her to teach high school Latin in 2005. The students who spoke on her behalf to the School Committee said she was know for her devotion to them, both in terms of their school work and their personal lives. Caldieri came to the meeting in the wheelchair she is now forced to use.
Caldieri believes her downfall at South Hadley High School is connected to her relationship with Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old freshman who hanged herself in January of 2010. Investigators said Prince’s suicide followed a period of intense bullying by classmates. Her death sparked an international campaign against school bullying and put the media spotlight on South Hadley and its social dynamics. Six former South Hadley High School students were charged with felonies in connection with Prince, although their cases were eventually resolved without jail time.
“Ultimately it was about Phoebe,” Caldieri said of her termination. As she explained it, Caldieri came under fire from Principal Dan Smith for leaving school grounds with some students on the day after Prince’s suicide to visit a grieving classmate. Her classes were subsequently monitored and the resulting stress exacerbated her multiple sclerosis.
She eventually went on medical leave, but that ran out in April. Caldieri said Sayer offered to extend her leave until August but told her if she was not physically able to perform her duties by September she must submit a letter of resignation. Last month, Caldieri spoke at a Statehouse rally in support of legislation called “The Healthy Workplace Bill,” which would criminalize bullying in the workplace. At the rally Caldieri said she was harassed and berated at school. Her notice of termination came less than two weeks later.
“I was a little shocked,” she said. “I just got it in the mail. It was very impersonal.”
Caldieri telephoned Sayer a few days later to ask why he didn’t call her instead. Sayer said her home telephone had been disconnected and he didn’t have her cell phone number, Caldieri said, although she noted that the schools had called her on her cell phone in the past.
Sayer is on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment. The School Committee announced at its meeting on Tuesday that Sayer will resign after Oct. 1, before his current contract is over. Smith resigned at the end of the school year and has not returned calls from the press.
Eileen Moore, Prince’s aunt, has been paying Caldieri’s health insurance premiums, but said the insurance she has through school will end on Sept. 1. Moore has started a benefit fund for Caldieri at Peoples Bank for those who wish to donate. She called Caldieri’s treatment by the school system “horrendous.”
“You just don’t treat someone like that,” she said. “Especially a colleague.”