Colleagues and oldsters wrote letters and spoke at Tuesday’s Boulder Valley college board assembly to defend Fairview Excessive trainer Rebecca Roetto, who Boulder Valley Superintendent Rob Anderson has really helpful for dismissal.
In accordance with a district memo offered to the college board, Roetto drew cartoon penises on pupil papers and in a pupil’s yearbook in Might. Roetto, who has been employed within the district since 2003, taught Wellness in Motion, Yoga and Bowling lessons final college yr at Fairview, in addition to operating the Adelante! program. Adelante! supplies help to first-generation college students.
Following an investigation, the college district concluded that Roetto engaged in misconduct and exhibited inappropriate habits with and towards college students that constitutes sexual harassment in violation of a number of board insurance policies, in accordance with the memo.
Roetto, who has been on paid go away since Aug. 7, didn’t communicate at Tuesday’s assembly. The dismissal advice was an info merchandise and wasn’t mentioned by the college board.
Jennifer Contreras Robles, a former Fairview pupil who’s now a sophomore on the College of Colorado, mentioned at Tuesday’s assembly that Roetto supported her when one other trainer discriminated towards her, and helped her apply for faculty.
“Miss Roetto has spent her profession talking up for these of us who don’t have a voice,” she mentioned. “There are actual issues at Fairview, and Miss Roetto is just not one in every of them. She is the kindest, most supportive trainer that I’ve had.”
Different audio system shared particulars concerning the incident, saying Roetto didn’t have a stamp she wanted to finish the “check-out” types that seniors will need to have for commencement. They mentioned the scholars, who had been greeted that morning by a whole bunch of penises drawn on the constructing, joked that she ought to draw penises instead of the stamp. After she obliged and drew a penis on 10 college students’ types, a college safety guard noticed one and reported it.
“Was what occurred a mistake? Sure,” mentioned Randi Hart, who labored with Roetto in its place trainer. “Ought to a 20-year profession go down the drain due to it? No.”
Audio system mentioned Roetto has served as an “unwavering supply of help” for college kids and questioned why a single mistake would result in the district firing a veteran trainer.
Kari Costello, a former Fairview trainer who now works at Boulder Excessive, mentioned it’s a part of a sample of feminine lecturers being disproportionately “harassed, reprimanded or punished.” She requested for an unbiased investigation into gender discrimination within the district.
“Academics reside in worry,” she mentioned.
One other speaker, mother or father Katherine Francis, questioned if Roetto’s advocacy for college kids is the true motive for the dismissal advice. Roetto, she mentioned, supported a number of college students who had been the victims of sexual assault and harassment and advocated for a greater college tradition.
Fairview college students in recent times led a broad reckoning over the college’s tradition amid a number of sexual assault and harassment allegations between college students. Two former Fairview college students additionally introduced a federal sexual harassment lawsuit towards Boulder Valley, which the district settled in 2022.
“I can’t assist however marvel if what we’re witnessing right now is retaliation for her utilizing her voice to attract consideration to those failures in our faculties,” Francis mentioned.
JHB contributed to this report.
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