School Administrative District 6 board officials knew that hiring the superintendent’s son as an ed tech might violate the district’s nepotism policy, but there is no indication they read the policy in detail to find out, according to an investigators’ report released to the Portland Press Herald.

The hiring of Zachariah Sherburne came to light after he was charged with sexually assaulting a female student in another district. The outcry over his hiring grew after revelations that he did not hold any state credentials. The ensuing uproar led his father, Frank Sherburne, to resign as superintendent May 16.

Zachariah Sherburne

A short summary of the 21-page report was released the day Sherburne resigned. The Press Herald received the full report, with some sections heavily redacted, in response to a Freedom of Access Act request. The redactions, the district’s attorney said, are mostly because of laws protecting employee confidentiality.

The investigation, by board members Paul Mosley and Cindy Meserve and the district’s attorney, Elek Miller of Drummond Woodsum, was mostly limited to the nepotism policy. SAD 6 board Chairwoman Rebecca Bowley and Vice Chairman Jacob Stoddard have acknowledged that they approved the hire despite knowing about the nepotism policy.

The SAD 6 investigators also questioned officials about whether they knew of “an alleged relationship” between Zachariah Sherburne, 23, and a student in SAD 55. The report found that no one did.

According to police reports, Zachariah Sherburne is accused of sexually assaulting a student in SAD 55 on Feb. 12, four days after he began working at SAD 6.

UNFAMILIARITY WITH NEPOTISM POLICY

In the full report, Frank Sherburne told investigators that he “pointed out that hiring Zachariah could be a violation of the (nepotism) policy, but that the district needs education technicians.” Stoddard said that when he, Sherburne and Bowley discussed the hire, “the existence of the nepotism policy was brought up, as was the fact that hiring Zachariah might be a violation of that policy.”

In the findings, the investigators say Bowley “was not familiar” with the specifics of the nepotism policy, that Stoddard was aware but misunderstood the policy, and that Sherburne “did not know” the policy required a full board vote to grant a hire under the exception provision.

The report does not indicate if any of them read the policy, or looked it up as they discussed whether hiring Zachariah Sherburne would be a violation.

Before Sherburne resigned, the community was in an uproar, packing the audience at hours-long board meetings and demanding that Sherburne be fired. Most of the outrage was focused on the sexual assault and the violation of the nepotism policy, but many critics say they are more concerned about the lack of credentials. They questioned whether the district had other instructors who were not properly credentialed.

In an email this week, SAD 6 attorney Peter Felmly said the district had 33 employees at the beginning of the school year who had some sort of problem regarding their state certification, license or criminal background check, but were allowed to teach under a district-issued extension. Felmly said that list has since been narrowed to one ed tech, who is not working as an ed tech while his state authorization is being renewed.

“That is not to say that they were not certified, authorized or permitted to work in a public school or that there was a gap in their certification/authorization,” Felmly wrote. “Many employees were in the process of obtaining their renewal from the Maine Department of Education and, as you are likely aware, due to staffing levels at the Maine Department of Education last fall, the processing of employees’ renewal applications took much longer than anticipated.” He said the department told the district that if the renewal application was filed and being processed by the state, the prior credential remained valid.

SAD 6 has more than 600 employees and serves about 3,900 students.

CONFLICTING CREDENTIALS DATA

Under state law, Zachariah Sherburne should have been fingerprinted, had a criminal background check and been authorized by the state as an ed tech before he first started working in a school, for SAD 55 in November 2015. He began working for SAD 6 in February and was arrested in March.

The SAD 6 report has conflicting and incomplete information regarding Sherburne’s credentialing, including the question of when, where and if he was fingerprinted, and when and whether he had a criminal history background check – both required of all school employees in Maine before they begin working in a school district.

The report says the state approval process, “which includes fingerprinting and a background check, had begun for Zachariah (Sherburne) when he applied for work” in late January, which is not consistent with a reference in the report’s time line to his fingerprinting appointment on Feb. 16.

The summary of the report said Sherburne had applied for education technician certification with the state, and the Department of Education acknowledged receipt of his application on Feb. 2, but later said the paperwork was incomplete because of transcript problems. The summary report said Zachariah Sherburne had his fingerprints taken on Feb. 16, but the state said it never issued an eight-week temporary card indicating he had applied for a criminal background check.

The department is investigating the situation, and will not comment until a final decision is issued.

Under state law, superintendents can be disciplined or even stripped of state credentials if their district employs someone without proper certification, authorization or approval from the Department of Education. It also can lead the district to lose state funding equal to the state’s share of salary and benefits paid to unauthorized employees.

Don Isaacs, board chairman in SAD 55, has refused to comment on any questions regarding Zachariah Sherburne, citing both employee confidentiality and the Department of Education investigation. Superintendent Carl Landry confirmed Sherburne’s employment, but declined to answer more detailed questions, citing employee confidentiality.