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The candidacy of the only in-state finalist for Massachusetts education commissioner may be in jeopardy because of her 1991 job recommendation for a principal who sought employment at another school system after reportedly admitting to sexually abusing a student.
Karla Brooks Baehr, now superintendent of Lowell public schools, had written a glowing recommendation letter for a popular Wellesley elementary school principal to become assistant superintendent of schools in a Connecticut city after a woman told Baehr that he had molested her about 18 years earlier when she was a 13-year-old student.
The chairman of the Board of Education, a nine-member group responsible for hiring the commissioner, said yesterday that the board is embarking on an independent review of Baehr's handling of the case to determine "whether her approach reflects our values and what we want the commissioner to stand for."
"It's a relevant piece of information in her background to look at," said Paul Reville, board chairman, who first questioned Baehr about her decision during public interviews of the three education commissioner finalists on Monday. Reville and five other board members contacted by the Globe said yesterday that they did not think the scandal, first reported by the Globe in 1992, would derail Baehr's candidacy in light of her 19-year track record as superintendent in Lowell, Wellesley, and Lexington.
But two said they were disappointed that Baehr had not alerted them to the situation until the Lowell Sun on Saturday published a story about Baehr's handling of the case.
Some parents also said yesterday they were disturbed by Baehr's decision to help the principal land another education position, and cast doubts on whether she is the best fit for the state's top education job.
"Inappropriate sexual behavior with a 13-year-old is totally unacceptable and it should be career-ending," said Suzy Littlefield, a parent and member of the Wellesley School Committee. "It's very worrisome to me that she had passed him on. She was in a position of authority and she made a poor decision."
Baehr said she made the best decision that she could at the time to protect the children of Wellesley. She said she had consulted lawyers about her legal obligations and psychologists about the wisdom of allowing the principal to continue working in education. She said she would have handled the situation differently under current guidelines, and would not have written a recommendation for the principal. The state did not require school systems to report educator misconduct until 2001.
"I have every confidence then, and now, that I kept children out of harm's way," Baehr said.
She said she did not inform the Board of Education about the situation because it had been widely publicized about a year after she made the recommendation.
Upon learning of the alleged abuse in 1991, Baehr said she confronted the principal and asked him to resign in Wellesley. He denied the woman's accusations that he had raped her digitally, but admitted to touching her breasts and kissing her while he was principal at a junior high school in Arlington in the 1970s.
According to notes in the principal's personnel file of his meeting with Baehr, obtained by the Globe in 1992, he vowed there was no genital contact with his accuser, promised he did not have physical contact with other students, and pleaded with Baehr not to destroy his career.
Baehr said her first priority was removing the man from a position that allowed him to interact with children. She subsequently recommended him for assistant superintendent in Connecticut, but said she would not have done so for a teaching or principal post.
"Certainly the standards today are much clearer and stricter that there aren't second chances," Baehr said.
"At the time, the distinction between a position directly involving students and a position in a central office seemed like a difference that mattered."
Media reports at the time indicated that Wellesley parents and School Committee members supported the way Baehr had handled the situation. The man went on to earn rave reviews in his new position.
Baehr yesterday denied accusations from some Wellesley community members that she protected the principal because they had a long professional relationship. She said he had hired her as a teacher at the junior high in the 1970s, but she said she did not consider him a mentor. Baehr had known the girl in the case but said she was unaware of any abuse until the victim came forward at 31.
Lexington Superintendent Paul Ash, who worked with Baehr for 12 years in Wellesley when he oversaw personnel and was involved in the case, defended Baehr's actions. She did her job, he said, given that a police investigation never occurred and criminal charges were not filed. The accuser sued the Arlington school and the case was settled out of court.
With extensive experience in urban and suburban districts, Baehr would be an effective commissioner, Ash said.
"If we lose her as commissioner because of this, it will really be a travesty," Ash said. "She was trying to do the best she could at the time for kids in the system. She got him out without trying to destroy the guy's life for what he was accused of doing 15 years earlier."
Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
