Board of Ed Accepts Wollkind's Retirement

The Board of Education (BOE) has formally accepted the resignation of Brookfield High School (BHS) math teacher Robert Wollkind, noting in a news release Friday that the majority report from an independent panel found that he had “abused and hurt the students and the staff that tried to correct him.”

Wollkind submitted , five days after the impartial tribunal’s majority report , as Superintendent Anthony Bivona .

The BOE met recently to accept the resignation.

“Two incidents last fall concerning inappropriate behavior towards students propelled this disciplinary matter,” the Office of the Superintendent stated in its news release Friday.

“However, as stated in the arbitration decision, ‘these incidents occurred against a backdrop of a personnel file replete with similar sarcastic or demeaning or disrespectful behavior towards students by the Claimant for approximately thirty-two years,’” Bivona wrote.

More than 1,000 people, including many current and former students, signed an online after he had been placed on administrative leave.

Some of his supporters attended the four hearings that were held earlier this year and over the recent days have expressed disappointment in the majority ruling, written by M. Jackson Webber and John Romanow. The minority report, authored by John Gesmonde, offered a dissenting view on the recommendation that Wollkind be terminated.

BOE members have said they have refrained from comment on the termination proceedings, on the advice of their legal counsel, since they would have been the body that ruled on Bivona’s recommendation for termination.

Wollkind’s retirement means that the BOE will not have to take action on that recommendation.

“It was extremely difficult to remain silent during this whole time,” BOE Vice Chairman Rob Gianazza said in a phone interview. “I think each of the board members had feelings about what was happening, but we all knew that we had to stay on the sidelines.”

“I agree that something had to be done, but it is not easy to see a teacher leave who was loved by a great number of people,” he added. “I think it is a shame that a beloved teacher wasn’t able to fade away gracefully, and I dislike seeing him leave tarnished.”

Current and former students have said that Wollkind, who had a doctorate and has taught part-time for more than 30 years at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) in Danbury, effectively prepared them for college courses and was usually available for extra help.

The superintendent stated in the news release that the math teacher, who lives in New Milford, had been suspended four times during his career and had been reprimanded by five of the six superintendents that served before Bivona and by a combined 13 administrators through the years.

Wollkind has said that part of the reason he has received so many disciplinary actions is because he has been “irreverent” with his superiors.

He has said that the majority report did not even state that he suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

Friday's press release cited the majority report, stating that, “Although Wollkind claimed he can control his behavior, there is a long career of thirty-one or thirty-two years wherein the Claimant, in spite of suspension, probation, counseling and warnings, continued to hurt, humiliate, and embarrass his students.”

Wollkind, who has said he spent $67,000 on legal services during the recent termination proceedings, plans to continue teaching at WCSU, where he has instructed both undergraduate and graduate students through the years.