AMHERST — A civil rights attorney has filed a public records request with the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District, signaling the first step of an investigation into the treatment of a Pelham Elementary School parent earlier this year.
In March, former superintendent Maria Geryk issued and later lifted a controversial stay-away order against Aisha Hiza, the mother of a Pelham Elementary School student.
The order barred her from school grounds and from contacting school officials.
Boston attorney Matthew Cregor, representing Hiza, said he is troubled by the stay-away order and the experience Hiza and her daughter had with the school district. The attorney requested a number of public records relating to the stay-away order and racial harassment policy in Amherst schools.
Cregor also requested a meeting with Geryk and Pelham Elementary School Principal Lisa Desjarlais before the school year begins.
Geryk left the school district Tuesday under the terms of a separation agreement with school officials.
“We are unafraid to exercise any option available to us under the law,” Cregor said. “But in the short term, we want to ensure (Hiza’s) daughter returns to a far more welcoming and engaging school environment than she experienced last year.”
Cregor said he will analyze the documents obtained in the records request to see if discrimination was a factor in the issuance of the stay-away order, whether as an individual instance or a farther-reaching practice.
In January 2015, Hiza reported to school officials that her daughter, a kindergartner, was experiencing racially motivated bullying.
According to the letter, Hiza continued to advocate on her daughter’s behalf when the bullying continued into her first-grade year. Geryk issued the stay-away order March 15.
Hiza learned via notarized letter May 31 that the order would be lifted the following day, June 1. Hiza declined to comment Tuesday, deferring to her attorney.
“I’ve seen the stay-away order, and there is simply no explanation for its issuance or options for its appeal, which violates basic due process rights,” Cregor said.
At the time the stay-away order was lifted, Geryk said law enforcement officials had reviewed the situation in late March and determined that safety concerns were credible and recommended a stay-away order.
Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone confirmed that a member of his department met with school staff and with Pelham Police Chief Gary Thomann, both of whom were made aware of the security concerns, the Gazette reported in June.
In the records request, Cregor seeks any school district policy on stay-away orders and documentation of the process the school district followed in issuing or removing the stay-away order against Hiza. Cregor also requested copies of any stay-away orders issued by the school district in the last five years, documentation of their termination and documentation of the race and nation of origin of the recipients of such orders.
Cregor also seeks documents pertaining to abuse and neglect reports filed by the school district and the school district’s policy on racial harassment. The request also seeks copies of the entire student record of Hiza’s daughter, specifically documentation of steps the district took to address the “peer-to-peer racial harassment and bullying” the girl experienced after her mother contacted the school district about it.
Though the letters are addressed to the departing Geryk, Cregor said he expects prompt compliance from the school district.
The Amherst-Pelham Regional and Union 26 school committees voted Tuesday to approve a severance package for Geryk worth $309,238. However, it was determined Wednesday that the school committees’ vote was not legal because not enough members were present.
The agreement allows Geryk to leave her position roughly two years before her contract is up. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee Chairwoman Laura Kent declined to comment on the investigation Tuesday evening.
Cregor is an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, a nonprofit legal organization in Boston founded in 1968. Since its inception, the firm has been active on education rights, Cregor said. Recently, the firm has been involved with an investigation at Boston Latin School regarding racism.