GOODRICH ACADEMY PRINCIPAL STILL ON LEAVE
Officials reviewing final report, 1 staff member quits over ordeal
FITCHBURG >> Goodrich Academy Principal Alexis Curry remains on paid administrative leave pending a third-party investigation, a situation that has dragged on for 14 weeks.
While the District administration has been tight lipped about what Curry is being accused of, those who have seen the complaint say it involves the principal’s methods for reprimanding teachers and how that shaped the work environment.
School officials have been vague in regards to the specific timeline of the investigation but confirmed recently that the report on Curry has been completed. Mayor Sam Squailia said via email on Thursday morning that Fitchburg Public Schools Superintendent Jon Thompson “has received the final report and is reviewing it now.”
“He has also kept me aware of the situation, to the extent that he is allowed to share with me, throughout this long process,” she said.
On Jan. 12, 2024, the longtime educator was escorted out of the high school, a place that has been near and dear to her heart for over 17 years — 11 of those as a guidance counselor and six as principal. Prior to joining the staff at Goodrich, Curry worked at Leominster High School for 16 years as a guidance counselor and coached varsity sports and was a class advisor there.
“I gave them my blood and heart and soul 13 hours a day,” Curry said of her dedication to Goodrich and the students there,
many of whom come to the school after being in danger of not graduating. “Who would take apart a school that thousands of students need?”
Thompson relayed via email earlier this month that “based on the findings in the report, I will determine what action, if any, should be taken.”
When reached via phone on April 12, Goodrich ESL teacher Sam Collins said he “saw the complaint from the union” in which Curry is “accused of a hostile work environment and reprimanding teachers in front of other teachers and students, but I have never personally witnessed any of that.”
Curry said that she has heard of staff members leaving Goodrich due to the current situation, including one that gave their notice on Thursday. According to Thompson in his email, “at this time, one staff member has left Goodrich to work in another school district.”
When asked about reports from Curry that she has heard that upwards of 100 students are absent from the school each day and some are smoking marijuana in the hallways, Thompson said “we have seen no changes in student attendance or behavior.”
Goodrich sophomore Emily Secrest told a different story, relaying that “the environment at Goodrich since Ms. Curry left has been very dark and the kids aren’t the same.”
“There’s been fights and empty classrooms that were once filled with no chairs left,” the 16-year- old shared via email at the beginning of April. “The kids don’t want to be there because Ms. Curry makes us all feel at home. Kids aren’t playing around like they were once.”
The young woman went on to say that since Curry was put on leave, her “anxiety has been really bad to the point I went remote for two and a half months and now go in hybrid. I still don’t feel as I once did when Ms. Curry was there.”
While this is Collins’ first year at Goodrich, he has been teaching in Fitchburg for 23 years. He said he does not “know about absences, honestly.”
“With my kids there have probably been a little more absences, but I have not seen kids smoking dope in the hallways,” he said.
Curry said several community members attended the April 1 school committee meeting to plead the case to reinstate her. In addition, many people from the grassroots group Stand for Curry held signs in the windows of the Legislative Building next door to city hall where the meeting was being held that night.
“Thanks to all that came out tonight,” Secrest’s mother Tracy Barnjum posted in the Grads of Goodrich Facebook group. “We may not have been able to make the speeches we wanted but our presences was known and our support was loud and proud… we all just pray they see her devotion and love for Goodrich.”
Curry said several school staff members have been interviewed by the investigator and some, like her, have been interviewed twice. She said both times she was interviewed for several hours, the most recent session at the end of March at which point she was told the investigation “was concluded.”
“The superintendent asked for it to be reopened because of another complaint,” she said. Curry noted that she was asked if she invited people associated with the school to her summer home, which she said is “not true,” and was asked if she “called someone snarky in 2002,” which she also denied.
“My lawyer spoke to their lawyer, who admitted that there is no bullying, no hostile work environment, they don’t have anything. They are still searching.”
As far as what the environment has been like at the school since Curry was put on leave and how the students are handling it, Collins said, “they are confused, certainly, and there have been all kinds of terrible rumors.”
“The kids just say crazy things, it is all blown out of proportion. It’s weird, and there is a division among teachers. Some people were afraid to talk about her. I blame it on this impartial third-party investigator, who is a lawyer. He has done a terrible job with this. I think his mind was made up already, he has done a hatchet job.”
The educator called Thompson “a good guy” and said, “I know this has killed him.”
“It should have been resolved very easily a long time ago in Alexis’s favor. It has just gotten blown out of proportion,” Collins said. “Thirty- one years she has devoted her life to kids. She is devastated I’m sure, it’s horrible.”
He went on to say that he has “nothing bad to say about anybody except that lawyer,” including Jennifer Fisher, who was put in place as principal at Goodrich in Curry’s absence. He said Fisher is “a wonderful lady” and that as far as he can tell, “she’s doing a great job.”
“She stepped into a terrible situation and is doing an amazing job,” Collins said.
When asked what it has been like working with Curry, he said “absolutely wonderful.”
“I’ve had many jobs. I have never been treated so well at a job and I never saw her mistreat anybody.”
Curry said she just wants to get back to her job and the students she so desperately misses along with her colleagues, many of whom she said have been struggling over the past three and a half months.
“It’s a wonderful group of human beings,” she said. “They always take the higher road, and they always do the right thing. And somehow for that, they have been punished.”