In the latest installment of former Riley principal Dean Goewey’s hearing, stenographer Sara Mitchell spent Thursday and Friday testifying on behalf of Goewey.

Mitchell, as the district’s witness, only partially corroborated one allegation lodged against the principal and told of an alleged campaign of retaliation against her by Superintendent David Fischer.

Goewey was placed on administrative leave with pay in November 2006 amid sexual harassment allegations. Mitchell is the former stenographer at Riley School, who says that she and secretary Sue Gosselin were involuntarily transferred to the middle school because they did not corroborate sexual harassment allegations against Goewey.

Mitchell and Gosselin filed harassment complaints against the superintendent in September 2007. Mitchell explained their reasoning behind such a move.

“The reason we did this was because of the involuntary transfer that we felt was retaliation for the part that we played, (or) that we didn’t really play in Dean’s suspension from the district,” she said. “In our minds, we felt that Mr. Fischer thought that we were the bad guys, that we were on the wrong side ... We felt that we didn’t have any other options except to go forward with the complaint.”

Mitchell testified that she did not witness any of the incidents alleged in the charges except for one. The ones she was not privy to includes Goewey allegedly making “ape-like gestures” when an African American woman was in the main office, his alleged smelling of retired secretary Michele Cowley’s fingers, the principal telling Riley kindergarten Kathy Carroll she smelled like urine nor did Mitchell see the alleged object that has been identified as both a vibrator and a neck massager.

The only incident Mitchell said she witnessed was the charge that Goewey called mushrooms found in Chinese food “penis mushrooms” in the staff room. Instead of the staff room, Mitchell testified that the only people present for the comment were herself, Goewey and Cowley in Goewey’s office where they were eating lunch in the 2002-03 school year.

“He was really making an observation of what those mushrooms looked like,” she said.
Mitchell was called to the superintendent’s office Aug. 17, 2006, where he asked her if she ever witnessed Goewey acting inappropriately in the office or toward her, she said. Mitchell said she answered no. “I don’t think he was happy with my answer, he seemed angry,” she said. “He asked me that question probably a couple of times.”

Henry Sobota, a lawyer who is representing the district, pointed out that Mitchell never told Fischer about the penis mushroom comment during her meeting with the superintendent. She said she never said anything because, to her, it was not a big deal.

When Mitchell met with director of personnel, Bill Crist, who conducted  Goewey’s investigation, she said she does not remember him asking her any specific questions concerning alleged sexual harassment incidents. “I don’t remember him asking me that … it seems like he should have,” she said.

This includes asking her about an incident Cowley reported where Goewey alleged placed Mitchell’s hand on his crotch. Instead, Mitchell testified that Crist asked her for possible names of people who had been witness to such behavior.

After Mitchell and Gosselin filed a harassment complaint against Fischer in September, the pair did not hear any updates on the status of their case until Mitchell received a letter from Mike Stanley, the district’s attorney who conducted the investigation, in March. The board of education had decided that there were no grounds for a complaint against the superintendent.

Mitchell also testified that Stanley did not give her a copy of the report he gave to the school board, nor did she talk to him about his findings of the investigation. Goewey’s lawyer Art Scheuermann also pointed out that in the report, Stanley did not interview Fischer, who was the alleged harasser.

Mitchell also said no one told her she would be able to appeal their decision. Currently, an arbitration hearing is being held to determine the outcome of the harassment complaint lodged against Fischer.

Included in her allegations that the superintendent was retaliating against her and Gosselin, Mitchell testified that Steve Quesnell, a custodian, was transferred to Riley school in November 2006. Quesnell is also the union president of the local chapter of CSEA in which Mitchell belongs. He also attended several union meetings with her and Gosselin concerning their harassment complaints.

Mitchell testified that on two separate occasions, Quesnell said that Fischer “asked him to be a spy in the building to see who were the problem people and (who were) the ones that weren’t” concerning the Goewey situation. Sobota pointed out that in Stanley’s report, Quesnell denies ever making those statements.

According to Mitchell, after Goewey was placed on administrative leave, Fischer began visiting Riley school more often, usually to meet with Carroll in her classroom. Carroll provided testimony that was used in nine of the charges brought against Goewey.

Another incident Mitchell testified about was when board president Maggie Tiballi came to Riley School and gave a card to Mitchell, asking her to make sure Carroll received the card. “I think she came into the building with that card so I would know who she was in support of,” Mitchell said. “She was behind Kathy Carroll completely.”

The next installment of hearing will be held July 2 at 10 a.m. at the education center on East First Street, where Fischer is expected to state his side.