A teacher in the Fayetteville-Manlius School District recently filed a notice of claim alleging defamatory statements were made about him by Superintendent Craig Tice and Board of Education Vice President Marissa Joy Mims.
Kent Jeffery, a long-time teacher at Eagle Hill Middle School, filed a notice of claim through his lawyer Michael Castle that defamatory statements were made by Tice and Mims in the months of September and November that have caused damage to his character.
According to a copy of the claim posted by localsyr.com on the website Scribd, Jeffery and his family have been involved in an ongoing dispute with the F-M district regarding the provisions for special education services of his 16-year-old son, a student with autism and special needs.
Castle said the dispute between the Jeffrey’s and the district have resulted in filing violations to the state education department, and has forced the family to buy a home in the East Syracuse Minoa School District, who will provide the provisions for their son with autism. Jeffery was not available for comment on the matter.
According to the claim, at or before the Sept. 12 board of education meeting, Tice made a comment in front of seven board of education members that he had intelligence that the Jeffrey’s had bought their 18-year-son Ryan a shotgun for his graduation and that “the superintendent and vice president [Mims] at all times intended, and were understood by those person who were present, to charge the claimant with arming his older son, Ryan, with the purpose of carrying out a violent and criminal attack on the board of education members of the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District.”
At the Nov. 14 board of education meeting, the claim states Tice read a prepared statement that a group of parents with children in special education “are bullying the Assistant Superintendent of Special Services, Lisa Dinneen.” The claim states Mims then issued an email “in which she identified the claimant [Jeffery] as one of the aforementioned ‘bullying parents.’”
“He’s [Jeffery] been a school teacher for 25 years and he’s very unhappy about things being said by him and superintendent and board,” said Castle. “That he’s arming his son and that he is a bully. The family has had enough of their insults.”
Tice said he was not able to comment on the litigation itself, but that it is being reviewed by the district’s legal counsel. He was able to comment on recent New York State Education Department audit of F-M’s special education program, stating that out of 84 items, 76 were found to be in compliance and the eight that weren’t are being addressed by the school’s administration.
“The bottom line is that we work as a team and our committee for special education includes parents,” said Tice. “We know some parents won’t agree with everything, but we try out hardest to work with the parents and the special education committee to determine the best for the students.”
Castle said the school now had 90 days to respond to the notice of claim, and if they do not make contact, Jeffery plans to bring a lawsuit against the district.
