School Fires Long-Time Employee Over Bell Organic Garden Incident

Marblehead - Richard 'Matty' Matthews has been forced to quit his job as Marblehead School Facilities Director by Marblehead School Superintendent, Maryann Perry, for allegedly knowing about and failing to stop the Bell school janitors from spoiling a portion of the organic garden at the Bell School

Matthews, who was eight weeks away from his retirement after over 16 years on the job, has vehemently denied knowing of the practice.

Soil samples from the garden were analyzed and according to the Marblehead School website there were “no elevated levels of contaminants present in the samples. He [the lab analyst] advised that no action was required”. https://www.marbleheadschools.org/district/news/organic-garden-update

News of the firing was made public not by the School Department, but through the Facebook Anything Marblehead page. The thread garnered a flurry of posts defending Matthew for years of valuable service and claiming that he was just a scapegoat for the mob mentality reaction to the rinse water contamination story.

A visit to the Bell school garden site showed that the majority of the garden plantings are in raised beds well above the pavers on the ground. Two small triangular beds were at ground level ("G" in picture) and according to Matthew, who participated in the contamination response, approximately two square feet of soil in one of these beds were the focus of the contamination analysis effort.

Matthews explained that the janitors used a floor cleaning machine similar to the ones seen at local supermarkets. The janitors empty the dirty water and cleaning solution from the machine into a slop sink per the directives approved by Ken Lord, Executive Director of Technology and Operations.

Then the machine was wheeled outside ("X" in picture) near the water hose connection and the custodians rinsed out the machine. The rinse water ran down a slight incline and onto a small section of the garden. According to Matthews, a parent who was at the school saw the runoff and alerted the school department.

An investigation that included the Health Department and the State Environmental Protection agency ensued and soil samples were sent out for analysis.

In the meantime, Facebook and town parents exploded with posts about the contaminated beds, the possibility of people getting sick from the garden’s vegetable, janitors intentionally dumping chemicals on the beds, and calls for the Superintendent to resign.

The school responded with formal communications to the parents about the situation on the School’s website and through e-mail.

Back at the school the investigation continued. Here is the timeline leading up to Matthews' firing:

The timeline shows that Matthew was fired before the samples were even taken by the Enviro-Science firm and there has been no explanation from the Administration regarding the delay in releasing the results, which had been available at least a week before they were released.

Matthew says he acknowledged to the Administration that the custodians at the school used poor judgment, but said that he was not aware of how they rinsed out the machine, and if he had been, he would have stopped it. According to Matthews, the Administration told him they did not believe him.

It is not clear if any disciplinary action has been taken against the janitorial staff at the Bell school who rinsed the machine(s) or if the building principal, who is aware of the daily functions of the custodians, was disciplined or even questioned. The School Department has not responded to questions from The Patch as of press time. Likewise, no information about any consequences for Ken Lord, who oversaw Matthews and his team, has been released.

Matthews and his wife were shocked at both the swiftness of the judgment and the severity of the punishment. As a result of the forced termination, Matthews will lose eight weeks’ pay as well as two months’ earned credit toward his pension. And while the money is important, even more important to Matthews and his wife is the damage to Matthews' reputation.

Matthews stated that he had always received satisfactory or better performance reviews and the Bell School Custodians “do a fantastic job trying to make the schools the best they can be.”

The Matthews are considering legal action against the town and they have consulted with a labor attorney. They have not yet decided whether they will sue the town.