AMESBURY — While retiring Amesbury School Superintendent Elizabeth McAndrews is saying goodbye to the district soon, she will still be encumbered by an ongoing lawsuit filed against the city but directed at her by former Cashman Elementary Principal Karina Mascia-Fayles.
In her 12-page complaint filed last August in Essex Superior Court, Mascia-Fayles claims McAndrews used her recent cancer diagnosis and bullying tactics as means towards forcing her to quit. The West Newbury resident, who announced her resignation on July 17, 2024, is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages from the city.
The complaint specifies five counts against the district, McAndrews, or both parties.
The counts include alleged state law violations pertaining to disability discrimination; retaliation perpetrated both defendants; threats, coercion, intimidation, and/or interference against both defendants; and aiding, abetting, inciting, and/or coercion by McAndrews, according to court documents.
Mascia-Fayles, who previous worked at Bresnahan Elementary as the Newburyport school’s assistant principal, was hired by Amesbury in July 2018 as principal of Cashman Elementary, with a three-year contract running through June 30, 2021.
Then, her contract was renewed for another three years through June 30, 2024.
In June 2023, Mascia-Fayles was diagnosed with cancer. The principal told McAndrews and other district employees about her diagnosis on June 30, 2023, and said that she would need accommodations like a brief medical leave for treatment, the complaint said.
The principal also told involved parties that she would have surgery and recover before going back to work in August 2023, prior to Cashman students’ return to school, according to the complaint.
Mascia-Fayles then returned to work in August 2023, and worked through the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.
Then, on November 22, 2023, Mascia-Fayles told McAndrews she needed to take more medical leave because of her chemotherapy treatment, and said she expected to be back at work in March 2024, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, at that point, the district then “undertook a campaign to drive Ms. Mascia-Fayles from employment.”
The complaint cited an example of the aforementioned conduct, and said on Feb. 20, 2024, when Mascia-Fayles was on medical leave, the superintendent gave her first assessment of the principal since June 2022, and “used it as an opportunity to repeatedly criticize Ms. Mascia-Fayles for needing to take medical leave, citing her leave as a negative factor relative to her performance,”.
Mascia-Fayles then returned to work on March 11, 2024, and on that day, during a meeting with McAndrews, the principal told the superintendent that while treatment was going well, she would likely need more treatment in the future, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, in response to this information, McAndrews allegedly told Mascia-Fayles that she would not be offered a three-year contract renewal that summer, and “specifically cited Ms. Mascia-Fayles cancer diagnosis and medical leave as factoring into her decision.”
McAndrews also said rather than “taking immediate action” against Mascia-Fayles, she would let the principal’s contract expire. The complaint then alleges that McAndrews had determined that the district would end the principal’s employment because of her disability and need for accommodations by the time she returned to work.
“On information and belief, by the time Ms. Mascia-Fayles returned to work in March 2024, Superintendent McAndrews had decided to end Ms. Mascia-Fayles’ employment due to her disability and ongoing need for accommodations,” the complaint said.
According to the complaint, after receiving this news, communications between Mascia-Fayles and McAndrews ensued, in which Mascia-Fayles expressed concern that the district’s actions against her were “unlawful”, McAndrews allegedly cited the principal’s poor performance as a reason why her contract would not be renewed and more.
Then, the complaint said on April 24, 2024, McAndrews and Mascia-Fayles met, and the superintendent allegedly said that the principal expressing concerns about discrimination was “disrespectful.” The superintendent then allegedly went through performance-related issues pertaining to Mascia-Fayles.
After that meeting, “McAndrews became increasingly brazen in her efforts to push Ms. Mascia-Fayles out of her job”, and the superintendent began to copy the principal’s subordinates on communications, the complaint said.
On July 17, 2024, McAndrews issued the principal with a Summative Evaluation for the 2023-24 school year, which said Mascia-Fayles’ communications were not received in “a positive and inclusive way”, that the principal did not “consistently nurture a shared instruction vision” and more, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, McAndrews’ behavior “took a physical and emotional toll” on the principal, and on the same day the evaluation was issued, “Mascia-Fayles was forced to relinquish her employee with the district.”
The end of this dispute could be years away with a deadline for a potential judgement set for August 2028, according to the state’s court database.
McAndrews and Mascia-Fayles’ attorney did not return requests for comment in time for this report.