The school administration must think that the parents of Leesburg students are naive. The story that was fed to the Times-Union, the Indiana Department of Education and the public is full of half truths and lies.
It is true that allegations of a "hostile environment" were brought up against Mr. Marino by a first-year teacher. What was not explained was that the allegations brought against Mr. Marino were refuted and proven inaccurate by the meticulous records kept by Mr. Marino. However, Dr. Haworth refused to change the accusatory and strongly negative letter written by him to Mr. Marino. On a side note, if I had a nickel for every time I had a confrontation with my boss, I would have a few dollars as, I am sure, most of you would.
Another half truth was "the investigation resulted in the hearing of testimony from over 40 teachers, parents and community members." It sounds like Dr. Haworth initiated this communication. Actually, the meetings resulted due to the overwhelming number of e-mails and phone calls to the administration and demands to be heard from many teachers and parents expressing their shock of the allegations and their total support for Mr. Marino. There were only a handful of special education and first-year teachers who caused the mayhem. It is interesting to note that during this time another administrator and his assistant began contacting people who previously worked at Leesburg in the hopes that they would bring further "issues" into the picture. Why? Maybe this administrator did not like sharing the front page of the newspaper with Leesburg, or maybe Mr. Marino was showing everyone what a principal is supposed to do and they didn't like it.
Also, a colleague of Ms. Mullett (now Ms. Dausman) in the same department began "cornering" people in the hallways stating, "We had Mr. Marino fired before all of the support, so if you have anything against Mr. Marino, report it to Dr. Haworth now." Not only does this describe a conspiracy by one department, but one should ask where the children that she was in charge of were during this time. She is being paid to help and teach our children.
Another half truth was when the allegations regarding ISTEPS were brought to Dr. Haworth's attention. It was reported in May even though the occurrence was in the fall, according to Dr. Haworth, because Ms. Mullett was intimidated by the "hostile environment" created by Mr. Marino and was "fearful" to report it at the time of the incident. Actually, the "hostile environment" allegations were "blown away" and basically did not occur so she had nothing to fear. Why was the administration so focused on getting rid of Mr. Marino?
There are so many more half truths and lies that I will have to continue this in another letter because these are too important to be edited to fit the 500 word limit.
