The administrative leave given to Lucille Paige, the executive secretary to Region 1 Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain, has been extended to Oct. 1.
A leave until June 30 was granted to Paige in May with full wages and benefits.
The extension of the leave was approved by both parties. Her salary and benefits will continue to be paid in full, he said.
In early May Paige filed a lawsuit against Chamberlain, claiming she was denied her right to free speech, disciplined in retaliation for taking part in an investigation of the school district and its administration and physically assaulted during a confrontation over her private email. Paige, in the lawsuit, claims she has been unfairly treated because she participated in an independent investigation of the school district after Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s top two administrators left just before the start of the 2010 school year. She alleges Chamberlain considered the participation a betrayal and “developed and implemented a systematic course of intimidation and retaliation to punish, discipline, penalize, and otherwise humiliate and bully” her,
alleging she was told to stay out of the high school section of the building. The central office is located in a wing of the building, Page was the only administrative secretary issued such a restriction. She said she was also ordered to cease all communications with school board members. The document also states that in December 2011 Chamberlain ordered Paige to open up her email account, believing she was hiding communications with board members and when the account was opened Chamberlain approached Paige’s chair and physically pushed her out-of-the-way to view the computer screen. Paige, who has held her position in Region One for 20 years, said up to that time two years ago, she’d rarely, if ever, received reprimands or written warnings, but now there are a number of negative evaluations in her file.
Paige, 68, has had some health issues since the controversy arose and in 2011 was on sick leave for two months for hypertension and acute anxiety.
Secretary’s leave extended Lucille Paige suing Region 1 superintendent BY RUTH EPSTEIN REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
