District's Coronavirus Failures May Have Cost Lives: Lawsuit

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A whistleblower lawsuit filed in federal court claims New Rochelle school officials at the highest levels willfully ignored medical advice and coronavirus protocols, unnecessarily exposing students, parents and staff to the virus.

The former City School District of New Rochelle Medical Director Brooke Balchan is accusing high-ranking district officials of favoring political considerations over safety when making decisions about how to protect staff and students from the coronavirus pandemic. Balchan claims in a recently filed lawsuit that she was retaliated against when she raised objections to decisions she believed put teachers and children at undue risk.

The lawsuit against the school district also names former superintendents Laura Feijoo and Alex Marrero as defendants, along with other top administrators.

Describing the school district’s COVID-19 response in the early days of the pandemic as a “failure,” Balchan’s attorneys contend that had “Feijoo and the district leadership team heeded Dr. Balchan’s recommendation to close schools one week earlier, the number of cases and deaths may have been significantly lower.”

Balchan claims in court documents that not only was her advice to close schools at the onset of the pandemic ignored, but says that she soon found herself cut out of the decision-making process, and was silenced and demoted when the school’s leadership learned she was raising alarms about the lack of a clear and logical policy in place for protecting the faculty and student body.

Balchan reports contacting local and state officials to alert anyone who would listen about her concerns over the school district’s laissez-faire approach to the pandemic. At the time she was blowing the whistle on alleged mismanagement by school administrators, the eyes of the world were focused on New Rochelle, which was the site of one of the first reported COVID-19 clusters in the U.S.

Balchan recounts in court filings that her concerns over what she believed was gross misconduct in the midst of a public health crisis led her to contact New Rochelle Police and, at one point, even speaking with a Homeland Security agent about the disingenuous and risky behavior of administrators.

Perhaps more troubling than accusations of policy missteps is Balchan’s contention that then-superintendent Feijoo interacted closely with students, families and staff while knowingly showing signs of COVID-19 infection.

Feijoo announced she was infected with COVID-19 on March 21, 2020, but there is debate about when she first showed symptoms. The lawsuit claims the former superintendent started showing symptoms on March 12 - the same day she visited 3 schools. It was around this time that Feijoo visited the homes of 45 students, hand-delivering Chromebooks accompanied by her eventual successor Marrero, who was then the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.

Feijoo took medical leave the following September and resigned in October of 2020. Marrerro was named interim superintendent at this time.

The lawsuit also accuses Marrerro of mishandling the pandemic response in his own right.

Marrero is alleged in the filing to have at the last minute used a different student health-screening platform from the one Balchan recommended. Balchan claims he also made several other last-minute decisions to keep some school programs in person rather than closing in November 2020 when infections again spiked. In December, Marrero announced he wanted to bring kids back in person even though there was no on-site testing plan yet in place.

Like his predecessor, Marrero is accused of retaliating against Balchan when she objected to his COVID-19 policy decisions over public health concerns.

In May, Marrero was named the new Superintendent of Denver Public Schools. The Denver Post, however, reports that news that he was named in the lawsuit raised concerns over his appointment. On June 3, The Denver Board of Education voted 6-1 to confirm him as the new superintendent.

“The District categorically denies any current or former District employees have been silenced or retaliated against, in any manner, in connection with the District’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the New Rochelle school district said in a statement to the Denver Post. “The District takes great pride in the manner in which its leadership team has handled all aspects of this unprecedented crisis. Any assertion that District representatives have acted in an unlawful manner in responding to the pandemic is simply false.”

SEE ALSO:

• New Rochelle Schools Release Coronavirus Plan
• Coronavirus: New Rochelle Schools To Stay Open
• Coronavirus: 1-Mile Containment Area In New Rochelle
• New Rochelle Schools Superintendent To Take Leave Of Absence
• Feijóo Resigns As New Rochelle Superintendent
• Montefiore Hospital Under Fire For Vaccinating Ineligible Workers
• New Rochelle Chooses New Superintendent of Schools