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Education
Marblehead High School principal to leave at end of July
BY KRIS OLSON
Marblehead High School Principal Dan Bauer has been offered the position of superintendent of schools in Danvers and will start his new job in July, pending the successful completion of contract negotiations.
Members of the Danvers School Committee voted unanimously to offer him the position at a special meeting Monday, Jan. 9, the same day as the third of the finalists, Geoff Bruno, the superintendent of schools in Scarborough, Maine, had his public interview after spending the day in the district.
“I have not heard one negative thing about him,” Danvers School Committee member Robin Doherty said of Bauer, leading off the board’s discussion of the finalists. “I have heard he is able to have difficult conversations with anyone, regardless of how well he knows that person or doesn’t.”
Doherty added that she had learned that Bauer is “great at building relationships and great at collaboration.”
“He would be able to come in and heal Danvers,” she said.
Doherty added that while academics are important, “We really can’t [push academics] unless you have relationships first.”
Member Joshua Kepnes, who was charged with focusing investigating Bauer’s candidacy in particular, said that one comment he received that stuck with him was, “Danvers needs Dan Bauer right now.”
One of Bauer’s references had told him, “Dan’s a treasure for any community who scoops him up.”
Kepnes noted how often Bauer is seen at school community events, whether they are sports or drama.
“He seemed to be tireless,” Kepnes said he heard.
Member Gabe Lopes said he had not checked Bauer’s references personally but did not have to, due to an influx of unsolicited references and local support.
“Everyone, somewhere, somehow seems to know Dan Bauer,” he said.
The other finalist was Peter Cushing, the current assistant superintendent in Medford, who was also part of a finalist pool in Milton that also included Marblehead Assistant Superintendent Nan Murphy. The Milton School Committee offered that job to Peter Burrows, the Addison Central School District superintendent in Middlebury, Vermont.
Bauer has been the principal at MHS since 2016. Before coming to Marblehead, Bauer had served as an assistant principal in Beverly.
The Danvers superintendent job has been vacant since the spring. Lisa Dana initially went on medical leave about a year ago after coming under fire for her administration’s handling of alleged violent racist, homophobic, and antisemitic behavior by members of the Danvers High 2019-20 boys’ varsity hockey team, which prompted an investigation by the state attorney general’s office.
In April, Dana made the decision to retire effective Aug. 31, 2022, “after a great deal of reflection while out on medical leave,” according to a prepared statement issued by the Danvers School Committee.
Monday night’s selection of Bauer was another acceleration of Danvers’ process to find a permanent replacement for Dana. The board had initially planned not to release its finalist selections until Jan. 9 and now has made a job offer by that date.
Last month, Danvers School Committee Chairman Eric Crane suggested that the district was moving quickly due to anticipated intense cooperation for top superintendent candidates throughout the state.
EDuCaTIOn Principal Bauer reflects on his time at MHS
BY LEIGH BLANDER
Reflecting on his tenure here, Marblehead High School Principal Dan Bauer said his greatest accomplishment has been working to build a culture of connection among students, faculty and the community.
“Our Day of Service is a great example,” Bauer told the Marblehead Current, referring to a town-wide community service project run by MHS. “And we’ve built and supported all kinds of clubs and groups.”
Bauer said some students are already asking him if he will come back to visit. “I will definitely keep relationships here,” he said. “Marblehead is a special place.”
His favorite memories are mostly from graduation ceremonies. “Those were definitely highlights, especially when we were at Piper Field.”
The community has been reacting to Bauer’s departure with sadness that he’s leaving, and pride that he’s moving up to a superintendent position.
“The next person coming in has big, big shoes to fill,” Melissa Kaplowitch, president of the MHS Parent Council Organization, told the Marblehead Current. Kaplowitch was on the hiring committee that brought Bauer to Marblehead in 2016.
“Dan came into Marblehead when the community was very disjointed,” she said. “He was able to connect to the students, parents, community members and other administrators and really bring us back together.”
Kaplowitch pointed to several highlights from Bauer’s time at MHS, including his vocal support of Team Harmony and the World of Difference program. Team Harmony is a student club that promotes diversity and World of Difference is an Anti-Defamation League program that teaches students and school leaders how to identify and call out bias.
“He initiated Magic Block this last year,” Kaplowitch added, “which promoted student choice and voice in their time on learning.”
Marblehead Superintendent John Buckey is happy for Bauer.
“He has been looking for the right opportunity to pursue his aspirations to become a superintendent and has worked hard to take this next step in his career. I cannot overstate how much Dan has done for the high school, our district and the Marblehead community,” Buckey said. “Personally, I am delighted that Dan and I will have the opportunity to remain colleagues as fellow North Shore superintendents.”
School Committee Chair Sarah Fox had high praise for Buckey and his leadership style.
“Dan is beloved and respected by the entire community. He is kind and fair and an excellent role model for students,” Fox wrote in an email. “Dan always conducts himself with professionalism and integrity, and he not only expects it from his students, he models daily for them how to be good people who contribute to whatever community they are part of.
“Anyone who has ever attended a school event or walked through the halls of MHS can clearly see the rapport Dan has with students,” Fox continued. “When kids feel connected to their leaders they accomplish and grow more. Dan Bauer has had a very big positive impact on thousands of students in his time here, parents see that and are grateful for it.”
Marblehead social media pages are also filled with posts singing Bauer’s praises.
COURTESY PHOTO / MARBLEHEAD PCO
Marblehead High School Principal Dan Bauer Search process
Bauer will continue working at MHS through July.
“We are fortunate that Dan will remain in his position for the remainder of this school year, giving us ample time to hire his successor,” Buckey said. “We have a solid and very effective search process in place, which has yielded us several tremendous leaders over the last few years.”
Buckey added, “I am confident that we will use this proven process and convene a representative group of parents, students, staff and district leaders to help us recruit and hire the next principal of Marblehead High School.”
Bauer had this advice as the search for his successor begins: “When I came aboard, they involved all the stakeholders. I’m glad I’ll be here ‘til July to assure a smooth transition. I’m ready to support that process.”
Take note
MHS musicians shine in Boston
Seven Marblehead High School students performed at the New England Conservatory on Jan. 7 as part of the Massachusetts Music Educators’ Association Northeast District Festival. The student musicians passed a competitive audition in November.
The MHS musicians who sang in the district chorus are: Griffen Collins, Yasen Colon, Mona Gelfgatt, Lani Gilmore, Anya Kane and Brady Weed. Benjamin Soon played the viola in the district orchestra.
The chorus performed several pieces, including “Jubilate Deo” by Laszlo Halmos, while the orchestra played “Prelude to Die Meistersinger” by Richard Wagner and “Toast of the Town” by Quinn Mason.
Four of the MHS singers — Collins, Colon, Gelfgatt and Weed — have been invited to audition for all-state chorus on Jan. 21.
COURTESY PHOTOs / LAURIE SWOPE
MHS musicians performed at the New England Conservatory on Jan. 7.
The town has a different police chief, Dennis King, who in his early days on the job handed Gallo a five-day suspension of his own related to an alleged offduty assault on July 26, 2021. It was the seventh suspension of Gallo’s MPD career.
Meanwhile, Kezer has been on the job for less than a year, and the town also recently transitioned its legal work on labor matters to new counsel, after the retirement of attorney Marc J. Miller.
To the extent that town officials have been willing to comment on what has been taking so long to resolve Gallo’s situation, they most often cite that churn among key personnel.
Gallo himself is anxious to have his situation resolved, his attorney made clear in a letter to Kezer last summer. Though he has been receiving his base pay, Gallo has at this point missed out on 17 months’ worth of detail and overtime opportunities, attorney Gary G. Nolan of Nolan Perroni in North Chelmsford noted.
Now, in a matter of weeks, there will finally be some movement, it seems. When he arrives for his hearing before Kezer, Gallo will be bringing plenty of historical baggage with him.
Dubious distinction
As part of the state’s new recertification process for law enforcement officers, the Marblehead Police and its counterparts across Massachusetts had to compile disciplinary history spreadsheets, a copy of which was provided to the Marblehead Current in response to a public records request.
By far, Gallo’s name occupies more rows on that spreadsheet than any other officer — 11. All 11 rows are coded with a “S,” meaning that the complaint against him was “sustained” after an investigation. In addition to the seven suspensions, Gallo has received four reprimands during his 22-plus-year career on the Marblehead force.
Throughout the rest of the department, many officers do not have a single sustained complaint. Two officers have one, and in the case of the only officer with multiple sustained complaints — two — they happened 19 and 23 years ago.
Gallo’s first suspension, for five days, came on Dec. 29, 2014, after Picariello found that Gallo had failed to assist police in Jupiter, Florida with locating a person, hindering their investigation.
When Gallo was suspended for a day on Jan. 20, 2015, for missing annual CPR/first responder training, Picariello noted in the letter he sent Gallo notifying him of the suspension that he had been “previously warned regarding similar infractions in the past.”
On Feb. 19, 2015, Gallo was suspended for two days after he failed to show up for roll call for his midnight shift and needed to be called and woken up. Again, Picariello cited his “past history of infractions such as this.”
On March 6, 2019, Gallo received a one-day suspension due to events that had occurred a month earlier, which in Picariello’s estimation constituted “conduct unbecoming an officer by casting the department and yourself in an unfavorable light.”
During the overnight shift on Feb. 3, 2019, Gallo used his police radio to request immediate assistance at his home. The police reports filed in its immediate aftermath do not fully illuminate the apparent altercation between Gallo and a couple who briefly fled from the responding officers. But Gallo was left with a bruised left eye, the bridge of his nose was bloodied and a wooden door of his home looked like it had either been pushed or kicked in.
The report of Officer Timothy Tufts concludes by noting that Gallo declined to speak to him about the incident.
Those incidents received little notoriety. The events that transpired in Miller Plaza in the early morning hours of May 19, 2020, would be another matter.
Plaza incident
On May 19, 2020, officers called to Miller Plaza were met by a man, who would ultimately be arrested, and a woman who was “impaired,” though it was not immediately clear whether that was due to alcohol, drugs, prescription medication or some other issue.
By all accounts, the woman was “belligerent, boisterous, profane and uncooperative with officers during the encounter and could have been taken under arrest” for disorderly conduct or taken into protective custody, Capt. Matthew Freeman would write in the report on the department’s internal affairs investigation he would eventually file.
The woman was also agitated because her dog was missing — Gallo eventually found the dog unharmed in a nearby ATM vestibule — and because she objected to an arrest of her male companion.
Freeman’s investigation determined that Gallo failed to respond to multiple radio dispatches on the night in question. After eight minutes, Gallo finally answered, but only because Sgt. Jason Conrad had been able to reach him by cell phone, Freeman found.
But the bigger problem was that the woman claimed that one of the officers had used excessive force — “body slamming” her. At least initially, it was believed that Gallo had been that officer, though Freeman noted in his report that the woman “morphed some of the characteristics of all the officers she interacted with together.”
Freeman based his conclusion on the accounts of two of Gallo’s fellow officers, Luke Peters and Tufts. In Peters’ account, Gallo had driven the woman roughly 3 to 4 feet backwards into plywood covering a damaged wall outside the 7-Eleven.
“Surveillance video substantially corroborates Officer Peters and Tufts statements,” Freeman wrote, though later in his report he also refers to the video as “unclear.”
Nonetheless, Freeman concluded that he could find “NO REASON” (capital letters in original) that Peters and Tufts would corroborate the woman’s account “other than it is true.”
If Peters’ and Tufts’ accounts were true, that would make the testimony Gallo gave during his internal affairs interview “untrue” and “gives rise to the appearance that the official police report he authored had glaring omissions of fact as well,” Freeman wrote.
However, those conclusions would eventually go by the wayside, and one of the darker moments in the department’s recent history seems to have played a role.
Credibility called into question
As residents likely now know, as shifts were changing between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m. on July 1, 2019, Officer Andrew Dimare picked up an empty, flattened can and placed it under the windshield wiper of Tufts’ car.
Tufts responded by using that can to scratch a swastika in the hood of Dimare’s car.
While a handful of officers either had firsthand knowledge of the incident or heard about it shortly thereafter, none of them made an official report, largely deferring to the “victim,” Dimare, who expressed an interest in handling the matter privately with Tufts.
For more than a year, the incident remained a subject of murky police station lore. To the extent that officers had heard about it, some had been left with the impression that it had occurred in winter.
The situation changed dramatically in November 2020. While on leave for the Miller Plaza incident, Gallo maintained contact with his fellow officers and heard rumors of the swastika incident. He decided to check them out.
On Nov. 2, using the ruse of having him retrieve a bag from his locker and bring it to his house, Gallo confirmed the details of the swastika incident with Dimare. He then told him that he was “going to make an issue out of this” as he sought to challenge what he felt was an unjust penalty for the Miller Plaza incident.
On Nov. 13, Nolan referred to the swastika incident in a lengthy email to then town counsel Miller, which raised questions about the credibility of Tufts’ and Peters’ accounts of the Miller Plaza incident.
“I raise [the swastika] issue only because [the] credibility of the witnesses will be very important should this case go forward,” Nolan wrote.
A week after Nolan’s email, Tufts was placed on administrative leave, and on Dec. 16, 2020, he resigned from the Marblehead police force.
In an apparent concession to Nolan’s claims that Tufts’ and Peters’ accounts of the Miller Plaza incident could not be trusted, a one-page “supplement” was eventually added to Freeman’s report on the internal affairs investigation.
While internal affairs investigation had been “extensive and exhaustive,” the “credibility of certain witnesses” had since been “called into question,” the document reads.
“Upon further investigation, it was determined that other witness statements with respect to Officer Gallo’s alleged use of excessive force and his being untruthful originally relied upon were not credible, and it was determined that Gallo had not used excessive force as originally believed,” the document reads. “After this full review of the matter, Officer Gallo’s use of excessive force and his being untruthful were not substantiated and, therefore, he is exonerated from such allegations.”
Gallo would return to work, but not for long.
1997: Marblehead hires Christopher Gallo as a reserve officer. 1999: Gallo becomes a full-time Marblehead patrol officer. Dec. 29, 2014: Gallo is suspended for five days for hindering a police investigation in Jupiter, Florida. Jan. 20, 2015: Gallo is suspended for a day for missing annual CPR/first responder training. Feb. 19, 2015: Gallo is suspended for two days after failing to show up for roll call for his midnight shift. March 6, 2019: Gallo receives a one-day suspension for “conduct unbecoming an officer” a month after an incident at his home. July 1 or 2, 2019: Then-Officer Timothy Tufts takes a flattened empty can that Officer Andrew Dimare had placed under the windshield wiper of Tufts’ car and uses it to carve a swastika on the hood of Dimare’s car. May 19, 2020: Gallo is given a five-day suspension and placed on paid administrative leave for an early morning incident in Miller Plaza. Aug. 4, 2020: Capt. Matthew N. Freeman files a detailed report documenting the results of an internal affairs investigation of the Miller Plaza incident, concluding among other things that Gallo had used excessive force, was late to respond to the call and had “glaring omissions of fact” in his official police report of the incident. Nov. 2, 2020: While out on leave, Gallo asks Dimare to bring him an item from his locker as a ruse to confirm the rumors he had heard about the swastika incident. Nov. 13, 2020: Through his lawyer, Gallo makes the town aware of the swastika incident, in the context of challenging the findings of Freeman’s account of the Miller Plaza incident Nov. 20, 2020: Tufts is placed on administrative leave for the swastika incident. Dec. 16, 2020: Tufts resigns from the Marblehead Police Department. Undated: A one-page “supplement” is added to the official report of the internal affairs investigation of the Miller Plaza incident, “exonerating” Gallo of using excessive force and being untruthful. June 16, 2021: Gallo is suspended for five days and placed on the paid administrative leave that continues today as a result of investigations into anonymous photos that appear to show Gallo’s official police vehicle parked at his residence over a span of months at times when he was supposed to be on duty. July 19, 2021: Winthrop Police Chief Terence M. Delehanty, hired as a consultant to investigate the swastika incident by Marblehead Chief Robert O. Picariello, reports his findings. Aug. 23, 2021: Marblehead Chief Dennis King suspends Gallo for five days for an “alleged off-duty assault” on July 26, 2021.
Defenses previewed
The Inspector General’s report prompted Picariello to suspend Gallo for a period of five days on June 16, 2021, beginning the period of paid administrative leave that continues to this day.
New chief King then imposed a five-day suspension on Gallo “as it relates to his conduct on July 26, 2021, which prompted a call to Marblehead Police for assistance.”
After Gallo’s period of paid leave stretched beyond a year, Nolan sent a letter to new town administrator Kezer on July 20, 2022, a copy of which was obtained by the Current.
The letter is fashioned as a “notice of claims” pursuant to the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, G.L.c. 258, and the Massachusetts Whistleblower Act, G.L.c. 149, §185.
The official purpose of the letter is to warn the town “not to destroy, conceal or alter any paper or electronic files or documents” that would become relevant, if Nolan files suit against the town on Gallo’s behalf.
But the document also sketches some of the arguments Nolan appears ready to raise in Gallo’s defense in his forthcoming disciplinary hearing.
“The new suspensions of Gallo, by both the outgoing and incoming police chiefs, on the heels of Gallo’s complaint about Tufts’ hateful conduct, constitute unlawful retaliation,” Nolan writes.
Nolan suggests that the IG’s investigation — and the town’s that ensued — are based on “easily edited digital photos.”
He adds, “It is believed by Gallo and others that Tufts was the source of the anonymous complaint and photos.”
Tufts did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that assertion.
Nolan states that Gallo was nine months into his suspension for allegedly going home on duty before he was questioned about it. His answers were then “misrepresented” to justify King sending a second letter of suspension for the same incident, Nolan asserts.
According to Nolan, the town only interviewed three witnesses during its investigation into Gallo going home, and none of them were Tufts.
Nolan also ties the latter suspension by King to the July 19, 2021, release of a consultant’s report after an independent investigation of the swastika incident Picariello had commissioned.
In that report, Winthrop Police Chief Terence M. Delehanty, operating as principal of Law Enforcement Application Development Strategies LLC, found that Tufts had violated state law regarding the destruction of property but lacked the required element of bias to have committed a hate crime.
Delehanty also concluded that a number of Marblehead officers had violated department policy by failing to report Tufts’ apparent rule violations promptly, though in some cases there were “mitigating factors” for their conduct.
The LEADS report concludes with a series of eight recommendations, including that town and police department policies should be updated and that officers and staff should be offered additional training.
King’s suspension on Aug. 23, 2021, is related to an “alleged off-duty assault” on July 26, 2021, which all of the responding officers and King determined Gallo had not committed, Nolan claims.
“However, regardless of the conclusion that he was falsely accused, Gallo was in any event still suspended for baseless reasons connected to his girlfriend’s medical condition,” Nolan writes. “This suspension was not based on fact but was instead a pretext for unlawful retaliation against Gallo for his reporting of the unlawful Tufts conduct and resulting negative attention he brought on the Police Department and some of its officers.”
Nolan adds that the investigation into Gallo’s offduty incident was “conducted in violation of the department’s own rules” and “based on misrepresentations of fact.”
What happens next
Adam J. Costa, a partner in the Newburyport firm Mead, Talerman & Costa, which now represents the town in labor matters, told the Current that, in the days since Kezer was appointed as the hearing officer, members of his firm and Nolan have been trying to settle on a date for the hearing, which had not happened as of the Current’s press time. However, both sides expect the hearing to happen in “late February or early March,” according to Costa.
King declined to comment on the situation, citing the upcoming hearing. Neither Kezer nor Nolan had responded to requests for comment as of the Current’s deadline.
Costa said he expected the hearing itself would be conducted privately, but if Kezer concluded that Gallo should be disciplined, the proceedings would become public at that point.
If the process mirrors the one used in 2010 with allegations of misconduct against thenSgt. Marion Keating, Kezer will make findings of facts and propose possible sanctions, but it will be up to the Select Board whether to adopt both those findings and the recommended penalty.
