Education
“It seems reasonable to conclude that I was cancelled because I am in a wheelchair,” the longtime substitute teacher and volunteer tutor wrote to the principal.
A longtime volunteer tutor and substitute teacher at a Cambridge elementary school is suing the district, claiming she was abruptly removed from classrooms at the behest of the principal because she uses a wheelchair.
Sarah Heine, a licensed educator with a master’s degree in elementary education, has been part of the community at Graham & Parks School for the past 12 years, as a volunteer tutor and occasionally as a paid substitute.
Heine, now 48, uses a power wheelchair and has a tremor in her left hand and a paralyzed vocal chord, she told Boston.com. She receives benefits and is unable to work a full-time job, so she volunteers four mornings a week tutoring students.
“It’s been really rewarding. It gives me a purpose and lets me use my education, and it’s also good for my own mental health,” Heine said.
In a lawsuit filed in Middlesex Superior Court earlier this year, Heine claims she was removed from a substitute teacher platform, and then unable to continue volunteering, in September by Principal Kathleen Smith.
“This came so out of the blue,” she said.
Cambridge Public Schools launched an investigation into Smith, a new principal at the time, in 2024 after a group of parents raised concerns about her previous roles. Parents thought she had “little interest in getting to know the students” and wasn’t committed to the school’s project-based learning curriculum. An internal investigation from Newton Public Schools detailed her “mean-girl mentality” before she left that principal position.
The allegations against Smith were found “not substantiated” by an external investigation, the district said at the beginning of the 2024 school year.
Lawsuit: Principal’s reasoning is a ‘non-issue.’
While Heine had previously served in substitute teaching roles without any issues, she was initially removed from a paid assignment because there was no paraprofessional assigned to the class “to support with transitions,” or leading the students to or from a classroom. Heine said this issue normally arises when taking the stairs. While she takes the elevator, a paraprofessional or other teacher helps lead her students in school hallways.
“It’s never been an issue of whether the classroom has a para or not, because if they don’t, the teacher always finds someone,” Heine said. “This is not a place where people are like, ‘No, that’s not my job.’”
Heine was removed from the substitute teaching platform and told Smith she was confused. She “very much had a plan for someone to help (Heine) with transitions,” the lawsuit said, which called Smith’s concern “a non-issue.”
“Ms. Heine was flabbergasted,” the lawsuit said. “No one from CPS or G&P administration had ever contacted her about her assignment or transition issues.
Heine reached out to Smith and lodged a discrimination complaint, the lawsuit said.
“It seems reasonable to conclude that I was cancelled because I am in a wheelchair,” Heine wrote to Smith.
Four days later, Smith released a memo indicating that Heine could no longer volunteer at Graham & Park, the lawsuit alleges, including that volunteers must have pre-scheduled appointments and be pre-approved by school leadership. “In many cases, school-based staff are best positioned to provide direct support to students,” Smith allegedly wrote.
“Given its timing,” the lawsuit claims, “it is reasonable to infer that the September 26 memo was issued in retaliation for Ms. Heine’s complaint.”
A spokesperson for Cambridge Public Schools said the district does not comment on personnel matters.
Heine is suing for $101,015 related to emotional damages and lost wages.
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
