Fired Riley teacher defends rep after knife incident

Ms. Carney said in an interview earlier this year that the district had met only with the parents of the three students involved.

While parents are notified about issues like sex offenders or bomb threats, Ms. Carney said it’s the building principal’s decision to notify them about other types of situations on a case-by-case basis.

When asked if she believed notifying class parents could have helped stifle rumors, Ms. Carney said the principal did think about informing parents but decided not to because it could have “reignited” the situation.

“The boys are fine,” she said of all three students. “They’re happy. They’re fine.”

Ms. Mariotti said the district’s failure to address the issue led to further tensions within a group of kids living in fear and being unable to focus.

Teaching became more and more of a challenge, she said.

Happening just four months after she was told she wouldn’t receive tenure, Ms. Mariotti said, the knife incident seemed like it was more fuel used toward her termination. On March 24, Ms. Mariotti said, she received a letter explaining that Ms. Carney was recommending to the school board that her probationary appointment be terminated.

Heartbroken, Ms. Mariotti didn’t come to work the next day. While she was out, she said, there was “another incident” involving the same student who had brought the knife to school. This time he was removed from class after acting inappropriately. He hasn’t returned since and his enrollment status could not be determined by a reporter.

Ms. Mariotti said she believes that, had she been in school that day, she could have helped prevent the situation, because she would have sensed when the student was becoming upset and intervened before he acted out.

“I feel bad,” she said. “I feel it could have been prevented.”

Ms. Mariotti believes she was set up to fail even before the knife incident, noting that she had not been assigned a mentor and hadn’t received the supplies she requested from the district at the start of the school year.

She provided the News-Review with write-ups of her classroom evaluations dating back to 2007. The documents show scores of “effective” and “highly effective” — the top two levels in the four-level rating system — up to this school year, when she received lower scores. She believes this year’s lower ratings stemmed in part from the administration’s taking aim at her German accent. For the first time, she said, it was indicated that she needs to improve her “communication skills.”

“They suggested a literacy coach, which I set up immediately,” she said.

Ms. Mariotti said she doesn’t know for sure if the knife incident had anything to do with her firing and doesn’t understand why the district fired her the way they did. Her termination goes into effect June 30.

“Several years as a leave replacement, they could have gotten rid of me then,” she said. “I don’t know their agenda. I lost respect for the district. Not the children. Not the teachers.”