School board seeks investigator to review hockey coach firing decision

May 3, 2021  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Former Harwood Union Boys Hockey Coach Jacob Grout, center, and his young son visit with players as they prepare to board the bus to the Division II state championship game in Barre on March 24. Photo by Gordon Miller.

The Harwood Union School Board has finally waded into a public discussion of the controversial decision in February to fire Harwood Union Boys Hockey Coach Jacob Grout at the outset of the winter hockey season. 

In a split 7-6 vote last week, the board decided to hire an investigator to review the matter rather than letting the decision stand or conducting an inquiry of its own. 

The board at previous meetings discussed the matter in executive sessions which were not open to the public as it considered legal advice regarding how to proceed. In public session at multiple meetings, the board has heard from community members urging the board to take up the matter. 

In February, Harwood principals terminated the well-liked coach who had been with the hockey program since 2019. A Harwood graduate himself, Grout led the team in 2020 when it won the state Division II championship. 

Just ahead of the start to this year’s winter season -- which was delayed due to COVID-19 -- Grout sent a text message to the team captain to forward to the team. In it he used several expletives as he scolded players for complaining about their assignments and groused about parents getting involved regarding decisions around playing time. He ended, however, with a rallying call for teamwork ahead of their first match. 

A parent complaint to school administrators about the content of the message led to Grout’s firing before the first game. 

The reaction from the team and the community was quick and strong. A petition acknowledging the offense but saying it didn’t merit the severe response has garnered nearly 1,400 signatures. Grout himself appealed to the superintendent and then the school board to review the matter. 

The school board’s schedule in March and April along with the multiple passes at reviewing legal advice stretched to the April 28 meeting when it finally brought it up as an action item. Athletic coaches are not covered by the school district’s labor contract, so the grievance process that would apply to teachers and staff does not apply in this case, board Chair Torrey Smith of Duxbury pointed out. 

Smith and Vice Chair Tim Jones of Fayston recommended that the board take no further action and let the decision by administrators stand. 

Avoiding a ‘witch hunt’

Waterbury board member Marlena Fishman, however, proposed inviting Grout, administrators and all involved in the incident and complaint to discuss the matter with the board in public. That suggestion failed 12-2 with just Fishman and Jonathan Young of Warren supporting it. Board members offered several reasons against that approach. 

Jones said the board had already discussed the matter enough, although none of that discussion had been in public session before and the board had not heard from anyone other than their lawyer so far. 

Some said delving into the matter was not the board’s role, and would be micro-managing. Brian Dalla Mura of Duxbury put it simply: “The administration did their job.” Christine Sullivan of Waitsfield agreed. “Sometimes employees need to be held to account,” she said. 

Jeremy Tretiak of Waitsfield said the board has more pressing business. “I will not be supporting this,” he said. “It’s incredibly distracting from the work the board should be focused on.”

Then there was the concern that taking up the matter in a public meeting with the 14-member board would be unwieldy. Smith, who began by recommending the board not take the matter up, called the suggestion for a public meeting review  “incredibly destructive” and a “witch hunt” and said she feared how it would unfold given that it involves students, parents and employees. 

“It’s almost the worst possible route we can take. It does not create a safe space for anyone that is involved,” she said. “It just sounds like something that would quickly, almost inevitably devolve into a witch trial of old.” 

An independent inquiry

Yet others weren’t comfortable just ignoring Grout’s appeal. Young reminded the board that a school district decision several years ago to cut a well-liked staff member at the Warren Elementary School continues to undermine the relationship of the community with the school district. He said transparency is important, regardless of the outcome. 

“If we fail to address an obvious need by a fairly large group of our community who are upset about this, we are failing them and we will suffer the consequences by not addressing it,” Young said. 

Jonathan Clough of Warren said he’s been avoiding information about the incident anticipating having to be impartial in order to weigh in. As a result he said he didn’t feel comfortable declaring the case closed yet. “The board does have an oversight role,” he said.  

Theresa Membrino of Fayston said the public attention and outcry demand a response and, if left unanswered could hurt the school district. “Our brand has been impacted,” Membrino said. “It’s going to be really important to get it all out there and just have everything on the table... It’s really important for us long-term as a brand.” 

Kristen Rodgers of Moretown said the board owed Grout action on his appeal. 

“What is the point of a school board that oversees everything when a coach, who [Superintendent] Brigid [Nease] can hire and fire at will, can’t even feel like they can appeal to us to be heard?” Rogers said. “This board has been silent. He feels like he was wrongly terminated, and we’re just saying, nope, we’re going to zip our mouths. That’s wrong.”

Smith then steered the discussion suggesting that although her strong recommendation was to not second-guess the decision, if the majority of the board wanted to look into the matter more, she would prefer to see an investigation that is “impartial, third-party and thorough” and for the district to hire someone to do it. 

An investigator would be a neutral party handling interviews, she pointed out. “They would have skills, expertise and professional experience to know how to ask questions in a kind, compassionate and humane way, how to collect information, how to report it appropriately and then that would probably become a public document,” Smith said.

Membrino reminded the board that it took that approach last year regarding a complaint about how the school district and the superintendent in particular handled a racist bullying complaint. An investigator’s report found no missteps in that case. “This is an excellent way to defend our administration the same way we did a year ago,” Membrino said. An independent investigation in the Grout matter could be “a great way to find closure and make peace with the district,” she said. 

The board ultimately approved hiring an investigator to review Grout’s termination. That vote split 7-6 which worked out to 51.25% to 43.55% given the board’s weighted voting. Smith did not vote and her 5.2% would not have changed the result. 

Those supporting the investigation were Fishman and Kelley Hackett of Waterbury, Rodgers and Lisa Mason of Moretown, Clough, Young and Membrino. 

The original complaint made public 

Reached after the decision, Grout said he has been watching the school board’s online meetings, hoping for an answer on his appeal, and that he was surprised that the board would hire an investigator in this case. 

“The findings of the board should be based on the same information the administration used when it made its decision,” he said, adding that he would expect that to be his initial text to the team and the complaint that followed. “I just want to know why they made that decision,” he said. “That would be peace of mind for me.” 

While Grout’s original message has been made public and was reported by Waterbury Roundabout in late February, the complaint that led administrators to fire Grout had not been shared publicly before the school board’s meeting last week. 

On Friday, April 30, Waterbury Roundabout and The Valley Reporter made a joint public records request to the school district requesting the complaint. 

Superintendent Nease responded by sending the letter of complaint as well as a second letter from a team member’s parent asking the administration to reconsider its decision to fire Grout. In both cases, the names of the individuals writing to the administration were redacted. 

The original complaint dated Feb. 13 is addressed to Harwood Union Athletic Director Chris Langevin and Co-Principals Megan McDonough and Laurie Greenberg. It says it is sharing a message from Grout to some of the boys varsity hockey players on Snapchat. Grout’s message follows. 

It then states: “I find this message absolutely appalling and completely inappropriate and think there needs to be action taken about this immediately! In no way, shape or form are these kids perfect, but, this is no way for a high school coach to speak to student athletes. Period. If we’re supposed to be holding our kids to a high standard, what standard does this message send? Coaches need to set the standard for the standard to be met.”

On Feb. 23, the principals and Nease received another communication from a team member’s parent saying the initial complaint contained an incomplete version of Grout’s original message. In fact, the final six sentences were missing. That correspondence contains Grout’s entire message. 

In sharing the two letters in response to the records request, Nease noted that school officials reviewed and considered both versions of Grout’s message. “For the record, I would like to make clear that both versions of the message sent to players by Coach Grout were read and considered as part of the administration’s decision,” Nease explained. 

Waterbury Roundabout shared the messages with Grout who said he had wondered what the complaint said. He said he found the complaint to be “less malicious” than he imagined. “Still doesn’t sit well with me, but definitely gives me some closure in a way,” he said.

Grout said he is eager to see how the next steps unfold and that he will be satisfied with whatever the investigation and board determine.