A screenshot from the Dec. 8 bodycam video shows the inside of a W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School classroom as Great Barrington Police Investigator Joseph O’Brien questions Principal Miles Wheat and the teacher about the book "Gender Queer." For safety reasons, the teacher wants to know who made the initial complaint before she goes back to work, her lawyer said.
GREAT BARRINGTON — The eighth grade teacher whose classroom was searched last month for a book wants to get back to work.
But first, she wants to know who complained to police, according to her attorney, so she can decide whether it is safe — for her and her students.
“She wants to go back to work and I’m told students definitely want her back,” said the attorney, Howard M. Cooper.
His client cited safety as at least part of her reason for asking both the school district — which has already acted — and the town to conduct independent investigations into the Dec. 8 incident, he said.
The teacher, who has asked that her identity not be published for safety reasons, decided last month to take a temporary paid leave for the same reason, said Cooper, of Todd & Weld LLP, a firm that specializes in employment law.
The source of the complaint makes a difference, Cooper said.
The shirt of a parent who spoke at a Great Barrington Select Board meeting on Jan. 8 regarding the incident where a police officer searched a classroom for a book.
“Whether this is some orchestrated campaign by someone outside of Great Barrington,” he added, “or whether someone went to the police in good faith and was misdirected by them and who should have been told, ‘Take a look at the procedure for challenging a book — it’s a civil procedure.’”
Concerns about books typically are handled in the schools.
But on Dec. 8, police sent a plainclothes officer to the teacher's classroom at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School to search for the book after someone complained to police about the illustrated novel, “Gender Queer,” and alleged that it might be a crime for minors to read it. The book, which is kept on a shelf as a supplemental material that requires teacher permission for students to read, apparently was not in the classroom at the time.
The person who complained is only known to police, who did not record the person’s name. Cooper said the person appears to be a man, given references to a “he” in the police report. That report also says the person wanted to remain anonymous for fear of "retaliation."
Cooper said he believes police cannot continue to protect the complainant's identity; Police Chief Paul Storti said he is currently “getting legal advice on that issue.”
Cooper characterized the responding officer's questioning — which can be viewed on bodycam footage — as “polite and professional,” but said it smacked of “interrogating her as a suspect in a criminal case.”
“It’s classic intimidation,” Cooper added. He said a quick Google search would have shown police that the coming-of-age novel is not intended to be titillating and so does not meet the legal standard for obscenity.
The search appears to be unprecedented — even in states where books have frequently been challenged, or “banned.” It has sparked outrage among many near and far and a pending review of policies both by the school district and the police.
Storti told The Eagle this week that his review of the entire incident is also pending.
Superintendent Peter Dillon has since apologized publicly on multiple occasions for not contacting the district’s lawyer immediately for advice, and for not demanding police obtain a search warrant first.
Cooper said that had the teacher been given “fair warning” about what was about to happen, she “could have decided whether she wanted to cooperate by answering questions or whether she wanted to have a lawyer present.”
A lawyer, he added, “no doubt would have told her, ‘Don’t say anything.’”
A Berkshire County law firm is conducting an independent investigation, commissioned by the school district, in response to the incident. Select Board Chair Stephen Bannon said board members are expected to discuss at Monday's meeting whether to hire an independent investigator. Bannon is also chair of the School Committee.
The Great Barrington Select Board listened to comments and calls for accountability by residents and parents on Jan. 8 about the incident where a Great Barrington police officer searched a classroom for the book "Gender Queer." Absent is Vice Chair Leigh Davis.
But the investigator hired by the district, Bannon added, already has permission to speak to town police. Bannon said the town is taking this incident seriously, and he noted Town Manager Mark Pruhenski "is reviewing the town’s internal policies and procedures" with Storti and with "the guidance of counsel."
Cooper declined to elaborate on what kind of litigation might be launched by the teacher — the School Committee's agenda for its closed-door session last week included "Threatened litigation" specifically about the "book search."
“We're investigating the facts,” Cooper said, “and everybody ought to be interested in the facts.”
But right now, he said, safety of the teacher and students is at the top of the list — not a lawsuit.
