"Melrose faces second civil rights violation allegation" by Steven A. Rosenberg Globe Staff September 18, 2015
A former Melrose teacher has filed a federal complaint against the Melrose public schools, alleging that she was fired in June for refusing a supervisor’s request to separate a group of black students who regularly sat together in her class.
“I was told that I needed to separate them because they were not allowed to sit next to each other because they were black,” said Kristen McCarthy, who taught art and photography for three years at Melrose High School before she was denied tenure in June and terminated.
Superintendent Cyndy S. Taymore did not respond to an interview request and Mayor Robert Dolan, who also serves on the School Committee, declined to comment on the investigation of the complaint by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. City Solicitor Robert Van Campen said the complaint lacks credibility. “The district feels there is no basis for this complaint,” he said.
This marks the second time in less than a year that the Melrose school system has been investigated by the Office for Civil Rights....
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