Friday, September 14, 2018
The policy, issued two days after Green censored a story on the website of the Register, the school's newspaper, says that it is intended “to affirm support for the school newspaper, but also outline guidelines around how it functions.”
Seven Days obtained a copy of the new policy from the student journalists. It refers to Act 49, the Vermont law passed last year that was intended to prevent school administrators from censoring student journalists. But Green notes that there are six instances, such as libelous or slanderous information, that would be precluded from protection under the law, which is commonly referred to as New Voices.
“The only way school administrators can ensure that distributed material passes this litmus test, they must have the ability to view all material before it is printed,” Green wrote. “Thus, moving forward the BHS Register will re-continue the policy from 2016/17 which required material to be submitted to the administration 48 hours prior to publication.”
Tags: Burlington , Burlington High School , newspaper , Yaw Obeng , Noel Green , Mario Macias , Register , Vermont Press Association , Image , Web Only
The Burlington School District announced Friday that it will place guidance director Mario Macias on administrative leave pending the completion of a state investigation.
Following a yearlong inquiry, the Agency of Education cited Macias on September 7 with six counts of alleged professional misconduct. The Register, the high school's student newspaper, broke the news of the allegations on Monday. Principal Noel Green ordered the newspaper to remove the story Tuesday, but not before other local media outlets verified and reported on the allegations. Green later agreed to allow the students to repost their story.
At a school board meeting Thursday night, residents berated Superintendent Yaw Obeng and the board for the handling of allegations levied against Macias. The board went into executive session for more than an hour to discuss a "personnel issue."
The district released a statement about Macias' leave at 5:13 p.m. Friday.
Tags: Burlington , Burlington High School , Mario Macias , Yaw Obeng , the Register , Image , Web Only
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Burlington High School principal Noel Green has reversed course and will allow student journalists to again publish a story online that he had ordered removed.
The article, first published Monday night by school newspaper the Register, detailed the results of a yearlong Vermont Agency of Education investigation into BHS guidance director Mario Macias, who’s been accused of unprofessional and incompetent behavior. Green asked students to pull the story down Tuesday morning, according to a statement from the school district, after he reviewed Act 49, a law passed in 2017 that’s meant to free student journalists from administrative censorship.
“While protecting student journalism, this law also allows administration to ask students to remove any story which is deemed to be ‘substantially disrupting the ability of the school to perform its educational mission,’” district spokesperson Russ Elek wrote in the statement. “In the opinion of Principal Green, this story very much fell under this stipulation at the time, and District leadership supported his decision to ask that the story be taken off the site.”
Tags: Burlington High School , the Register , Noel Green , principal , Act 49 , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Monday night the Register broke the news that the state has been investigating school guidance director Mario Macias, who is accused of unprofessional conduct and could lose his educator's license for nearly a year.
By Tuesday morning, Green ordered the Register’s teacher adviser, Beth Fialko Casey, to pull the article. Fialko Casey conferred with the article’s four authors — editors Julia Shannon-Grillo, Halle Newman, Nataleigh Noble and Jenna Peterson — who reluctantly agreed to comply.
“It did cross our minds that they’d want to talk to us and we were ready to defend our actions but we were not expecting it to be censored,” said Shannon-Grillo, a 16-year-old junior. “We understand [Green’s] decision, but as editors, we don’t agree with it.”
Tags: Burlington High School , Noel Green , principal , Register , newspaper , student journalism , Act 49 , Phil Baruth , senator , Beth Fialko Casey , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
On September 7, the Agency cited Macias with six counts of alleged unprofessional conduct. He remains on the job and will have the right to respond to the allegations at a hearing to be scheduled within 60 days. Vermont Education Secretary Daniel French recommended that Macias' license be suspended for 364 days if the allegations are proven.
Macias did not respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday.
Tags: Burlington High School , Mario Macias , Agency of Education , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Monday, September 10, 2018
Attorney General T.J. Donovan suggested that the probe, prompted by a recent Buzzfeed story detailing decades of abuse suffered by children, could focus more on fact-finding than legal action. The story includes claims that children died at the hands of nuns.
Many of the victims and alleged perpetrators are dead or elderly, and the statutes of limitation have expired for many acts at the North Avenue orphanage, which closed in 1974.
"While there may be challenges given the current state of our laws ... there should be no challenge to bringing truth and reconciliation and closure and justice for victims," Donovan said. He added, "Justice doesn't always occur in a courtroom."
Tags: St. Joseph's Catholic Orphanage , Brandon del Pozo , T.J. Donovan , Miro Weinberger , abuse , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 7, 2018
In a highly unusual move, Burlington police on Friday publicly criticized prosecutors for not pursuing criminal charges against a Colchester man who claimed self-defense for his role in a downtown shooting that injured an innocent bystander.
Carl Martin was charged in August with aggravated assault, aggravated disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment for his alleged actions in the February incident.
According to police, Martin's brother had a long-simmering dispute with Rashad Nashid over a woman. The men ran into each other at Nectar's on Main Street one February night and began arguing. Nashid later left and went next door to Esox, another bar.
But he and Carl Martin continued to argue while both were outside smoking. Martin eventually punched Nashid in the face, prompting both men to pull handguns. Nashid fired, according to cops, hitting the 27-year-old bystander.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Sarah George , Burlington police , Carl Martin , Rashad Nashid , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said his department will launch an inquiry into allegations made in a recent Buzzfeed story about decades of abuse at the St. Joseph's Catholic Orphanage.
Del Pozo provided few details, but said he was meeting with the Vermont Attorney General's Office Friday and has been in discussions with Mayor Miro Weinberger about investigating the allegations of physical, mental and sexual abuse at St. Joseph's. The Buzzfeed article includes allegations that children were killed.
The orphanage closed in 1974. The imposing North Avenue building became part of Burlington College before it was turned into housing.
"It's safe to say that the mayor and I feel it's in the interests of justice to offer a full accounting of the crimes," del Pozo said. "We feel it's the duty of the state to do so."
Tags: St. Joseph's orphanage , Miro Weinberger , Brandon del Pozo , crime , police , Buzzfeed , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
The Burlington City Council voted 8-2 Monday to alter that agreement in order to get things moving again. Mayor Miro Weinberger had requested in a letter late Friday that the council allow Sinex to build the foundation before he has a contract for the rest of the project.
City councilors raised questions in interviews Monday about what the changes would mean for the project, and whether approving the changes would put the city at greater risk if the project were to fail.
Tags: Don Sinex , CityPlace Burlington , Miro Weinberger , Jane Knodell , Kurt Wright , Adam Roof , Image , Web Only
Friday, August 24, 2018
Julie MacMillan, the lead negotiator for the University of Vermont Medical Center nurses, stepped down from that role Friday, saying union leaders asked her to resign.
MacMillan announced her decision in a public post on Facebook. MacMillan sat at the bargaining table with hospital administrators throughout lengthy negotiations since July, when the nurses went on strike for 48 hours. They have since been working without a contract.
After the hospital's August 18 offer of a 15 percent pay increase over three years, she "felt that we had not only made great strides, but had potentially reached a compromise," she wrote in the post.
Tags: Julie MacMillan , nurses , strike , UVMMC , Image , Web Only