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Gus Sayer, former South Hadley School Superintendent, has been sued for defamation by a former special education teacher.
(The Republican file photo)
NORTHAMPTON -- Former South Hadley school superintendent Gus A. Sayer has been sued for defamation by a former school adjustment counselor and special education teacher who worked in the town's school system a decade ago.
The Jan. 28 civil complaint, filed in Hampshire Superior Court by Russell J. Wilson, of Lee, additionally accuses Sayer of illegal interference with an employment relationship.
Wilson states that he was employed by the South Hadley Public Schools from September 2004 to March 2006, when he was terminated as a result of false and defamatory statements made by Sayer.
Wilson further claims that Sayer made false statements more recently during an unspecified Jan. 29, 2013 deposition. Sayer on that date allegedly said that Wilson "copied an Individual Education Plan of a special needs student to another special needs child without the knowledge of the parent or administration" even though evidence shows someone else did it, according to the complaint.
Wilson, who filed the complaint on his own behalf without a lawyer, claims that over a period of seven years Sayer made false and derogatory statements about him to staff, administrators, town counsel, the Massachusetts Department of Education, the South Hadley Board of Education and the teachers union.
The complaint charges that Sayer refused to relinquish documents to Wilson, conveyed false information about "personal and private issues" to staff and administrators and that Sayer, "at some point prior to Jan. 30, 2013," discussed Wilson's health issues at a meeting with staff and administrators without medical documentation.
The alleged statements "caused Wilson to be treated with scorn, contempt, ridicule, or hatred in the community in which he worked, his family, and the education profession generally," and were made "with the malicious purpose of harming Wilson," states the complaint.
Wilson is seeking unspecified damages and has asked for a jury trial. Efforts to reach Wilson and Sayer on Thursday evening were not immediately successful.
Sayer, first hired by the South Hadley Schools in 2003, retired as superintendent in late 2011 after being dogged by controversy over the high-profile 2010 suicide of high school freshman Phoebe Prince. Criminal cases against students alleged to have harassed the teen were settled in May 2011. Previously, Sayer served more than a decade as superintendent in Amherst.
Mary Serreze can be reached at mserreze@gmail.com