GIBBON — A Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS) arbitrator ruled Aug. 19 that the Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop (GFW) school district’s immediate discharge of a speech and language pathologist last winter is denied and reduced to an unpaid suspension of five days.

According to the BMS Arbitration Decision and Award, the school district is directed to reinstate Renee L. Schmidt to her former position after the unpaid suspension is served.

In addition, she should be made whole for any loss of pay and benefits exclusive of the penalty imposed and her personnel file shall be corrected to reflect the decision and award.

The award signed by arbitrator Frank J. Kundrant read that Schmidt’s grievance is upheld in part and denied in part and that the discipline imposed on Schmidt is for conduct unbecoming a special education teacher.

“After careful review and consideration of witness testimony and exhibits, and the arguments of parties, this arbitrator concluded that the GFW school district has not proved by preponderance (superiority in power or influence) that (Schmidt) willfully neglected her teaching duties,” read the decision.

“The school district has proved by a preponderance of evidence that (Schmidt) committed conduct unbecoming a teacher on Jan. 21, 2021,” read the decision.

“Ms. Schmidt has a good work record, with no reprimands for her teaching and interactions with students,” read the award conclusion. “As a result of her one reprimand regarding the breach of data privacy with the student medical release, Schmidt received a refresher course on data privacy from her supervisor, principal Thompson.”

“The GFW school district is also not blameless,” read the conclusion. “The physical restraint and CPI training (nonviolent crisis intervention) given to its staff has not been clear and effective. Witness testimony revealed a very uncertain understanding by Schmidt and other teachers of the proper way to confront student behavior blow-ups, other than calling for help that may or may not come in time.”

As a remedial measure, the school district should strongly consider more comprehensive and effective physical intervention and restraint review, and the training of more CPI responders, read the conclusion.

Stress reduction programming for teaching and administrative staff as mentioned in the testimony, is another remedial measure for the district to consider, added the conclusion.

Schmidt was accused of placing a six-year-old student in a bear hug hold and dragging her down two hallways and two flights of stairs on Jan. 21, 2021. She was charged with gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child and two misdemeanor counts of fifth-degree assault in Sibley County District Court.

In a Feb. 3, 2021 media release, GFW Superintendent Jeff Horton said the school district immediately notified police of the incident after it happened and placed Schmidt on administrative leave, and will continue to investigate the incident and take appropriate action.

A case hearing was held June 8 before the arbitrator at the elementary school office in Gibbon.

The Minnesota teacher’s union position was that Schmidt carried a special education student down a hallway to her kindergarten class and that the carrying procedure was previously performed to her understanding by other school faculty.

The union argued that the school district faced a choice of either addressing systemic problems with the culture and practices developed at school, or placing all the blame upon and essentially “scapegoating” Schmidt by terminating her employment.

In addition, the union argued that the school district conducted an inadequate and flawed investigation and review process before deciding to immediately discharge Schmidt.

The union maintained that Schmidt was wrongfully terminated “for a single instance of conduct where she carried a student for less than two minutes, an incident that resulted in no injury.”

The school district’s position was that Schmidt used inappropriate and unauthorized physical force against a small six-year-old special education student, picking her up outside the physical therapy room and carrying her unsafely down several school hallways and a stairwell to another classroom.

The school district administration determined that Schmidt’s actions were a violation of school district policy, the Code of Ethics for Minnesota Teachers, state law, the students IEP (Individualized Education Plan), and crisis protection intervention training Schmidt received.

The school district determined that those actions against a student compelled Schmidt’s discharge from employment with GFW schools.

For more information visit the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services at mn.gov.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.