Arlington teacher wins case v. town
More than two years after he was fired, a controversial Arlington middle school teacher won an arbitration case against the town yesterday.
Charles Coughlin, who was seeking his job back, “got all he could get under the statute’’ from an arbitrator, according to his lawyer, Frank Mondano. The law permits Coughlin to be reinstated to his former position, and receive back pay and benefits with interest.
Coughlin was a technology teacher at the Ottoson Middle School who was terminated in August 2007 by Nathan Levenson, then the superintendent, for using school computers to send suggestive e-mails to the school’s principal, Stavroula Bouris.
His firing, along with that of Bouris, triggered a firestorm of angry accusations of foul play and finger-pointing among school officials, faculty, and staff, as well as parents and residents, that still divides the town. Bouris has a separate arbitration case that is pending.
The Arlington School Committee has 30 days to appeal the ruling in Coughlin’s case.
The decision is a blow to the School Committee, which has spent about $500,000 in legal fees to fight Coughlin’s efforts to overturn his release.
Interim Superintendent Kathleen Bodie said late yesterday that she had received a copy of the decision, but had not read it. She confirmed that Coughlin had prevailed, but she declined to comment further because of possible future legal action.
Mondano has said it was likely that both Coughlin and Bouris will file a civil suit seeking additional damages from the town.
Ron Colosi, Jr., president of the Arlington Education Association, said the teachers he spoke to yesterday were ecstatic over the news and that he is not surprised at the outcome.
“We’ve said it over and over and over,’’ said Colosi. “I think they should have dropped both cases a long time ago.’’ The union intends to once again strongly urge the School Committee drop its defense in Bouris’s arbitration.
