Teacher makes claim in lawsuit she was not provided necessary aides

MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — A former teacher in the South Orange-Maplewood School District filed a lawsuit against the district, saying she was asked to teach a class that included special education students but was not provided the proper amount of paraprofessionals to assist her which exacerbated her anxiety disorder. Sarah Barlow, who taught kindergarten at South Mountain Elementary School, said in the lawsuit that South Mountain Elementary School Principal Kevin Mason sent Barlow a letter in October 2022, “admonishing her for exhibiting signs of anxiety and stress in the classroom, which were due to her medical condition and Mason’s ill treatment. In the letter, Mason stated that Ms. Barlow’s ‘crying spells’ were unprofessional and stated that a corrective action plan would be forthcoming.”

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, Dec. 22, in Essex County Superior Court.

According to the lawsuit, Barlow has suffered from anxiety since she was a teenager; shortly after she received the letter from Mason, she went on a six-week long medical leave, due to the stress and anxiety she was experiencing at work, on the advice of her therapist. Barlow resigned on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Mason is not named in the lawsuit, but several disagreements between Barlow and him are described, beginning in the 2019-2020 school year.

“During the 2019-2020 school year, a student in Ms. Barlow’s classroom unfortunately commented that she wanted to commit suicide,” the lawsuit said. “When Ms. Barlow pushed for additional evaluation and support for this student, she was met with resistance from the district’s principal, Kevin Mason. During this same school year, the parent of one of Ms. Barlow’s students wanted to hold her child back from graduating to the next grade. When Ms. Barlow indicated she agreed with the parent, she again was met with resistance from Mason.”

It continues to say that, in 2021, an anonymous letter was sent to Superintendent Ronald Taylor, alleging that Mason was having an inappropriate relationship with another teacher at the school. The letter said a teacher reported the relationship to the South Orange-Maplewood Education Association; Mason believed that teacher to be Barlow.

“Ms. Barlow was then transferred back to the South Mountain Annex for the 2022-2023 school year. Ms. Barlow was asked to teach a classroom that included special education students, yet was not provided any special education teachers or paraprofessionals to assist her,” the suit said. “Due to this, Ms. Barlow complained on numerous occasions that it was unlawful for her to not be assigned a special education aide. No significant action was taken by the district in response to her complaints.”
In an email to the News-Record on Wednesday, Feb. 8, Barlow clarified that she did have paraprofessionals in her classroom, she just did not have enough according to her students’ individual education programs. She otherwise declined comment.

Barlow is being represented by attorney Gregory Noble; according to the lawsuit, she is saying the district failed to accommodate her anxiety disability and she continues to “suffer emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, anguish, physical and bodily injuries, personal hardship, career and social disruption, psychological and emotional harm, economic losses, lost employment opportunities and other such damages.”

The suit also alleges the district violated the Conscientious Employee Protection Act by retaliating against Barlow by moving her classroom from South Mountain’s main building to the annex building. She is asking for compensatory and punitive damages, back pay that she would have received had she not resigned, attorney’s fees and “such other relief as may be available pursuant to the (N.J. Law Against Discrimination), in which this court deems to be just and equitable.”

Mason did not respond to a request for comment by press time on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
Taylor said in an email on Monday, Feb. 13, that the district is unable to comment on personnel and litigation matters.