District Rests, Defense Begins in 'Doc' Wollkind Hearing

The Brookfield School District wrapped up their case against high school math teacher Dr. Robert “Doc” Wollkind on Wednesday evening, March 30, before the defense called their first three witnesses, including Wollkind himself.

Wednesday’s hearing was the third overseen by an impartial tribunal that will ultimately recommend whether the district should terminate the teacher’s employment. Wollkind was suspended in November after making in his 32-year tenure at BHS.

The math teacher, who has a Ph.D. in math and physics, suffers from a form of autism known as Asperger’s Syndrome, .

The district’s attorney, Patrick McHale, began Wednesday’s hearing by calling his final witness, Superintendent of Schools Anthony Bivona.

McHale began by asking largely procedural questions — such as the timeline of recent events and the Superintendent’s familiarity with Wollkind’s personnel file — and asked the Superintendent to sum up his concerns over allowing Wollkind to return to teaching at BHS.

“He’s demonstrated time and time again that despite the specific directives, despite the supports, despite the progressive discipline, he’s been suspended four times without pay and each time he’s been warned that if this behavior continues, he will be terminated,” Bivona said. “I don’t see that this kind of behavior is going to cease.”

Bivona testified that this is the first time he has recommended that a teacher be terminated and this is not his preferred course of action but it is necessary.

“I really have no choice, this has to end now,” he said. “When we talk to parents in the community, they expect our teachers to treat students with respect, that we’re going to provide a safe, secure learning area where they’re safe to take risks and grow as young adults.”

“The student did the right thing,” Bivona said of Student 21. “He went to the assistant principle to report the incident. That’s no guarantee. My fear is that if this happens again in that classroom and the student does something more extreme, then I have to face the parents of that students, who says, ‘Superintendent Bivona, you have this record, you suspended him a fifth time, and now you’ve brought him back?’”

In cross-examining Bivona, Wollkind’s attorney, Randy DiBella, noted that in 2002 Wollkind was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.

“Concerning the main incidents — ’94, ’97, ’02 — every time after that his contract was rolled over, correct?” DiBella asked Bivona, who stated that it was. “And something changed in 2002, the evaluation.”

DiBella pointed out that Bivona has a background in special education, having spent time as director of special education for the Plainville School District and a school psychologist in Simsbury, and asked him if he understood Asperger’s Syndrome.

“I’m not an expert, but I understand it,” Bivona answered. “I’m not familiar with those kind of characteristics,” he added, stating that he had never known anyone with Asperger’s “who’s demeaning, degrading, humiliates people, that’s not something I’ve seen.”

After the school district rested its case, the defense called Dr. Jonathan Bauman, the psychiatrist who initially diagnosed Wollkind with Asperger’s. Bauman is currently the chief medical officer of Four Winds Hospital in Cross River, NY, the same position he held when Wollkind was examined there in 2002.

“It was my opinion that he suffered from Asperger’s disorder,” Bauman said, explaining that the condition is “considered to be in the autistic spectrum,” and adding that “some people would consider it high-functioning autistic,” as sufferers generally have good verbal skills and “normal or above average intellect.”

DiBella asked Bauman if unfiltered speech is a characteristic of the disorder.

“It can be,” the doctor answered.

When asked, Bauman testified that his conclusion in 2002 was that Wollkind was not unfit to teach and, after meeting with Wollkind for approximately an hour in February, he reiterated that opinion during Wednesday’s testimony.

“Has there been any change in 2002 and 2011 in your opinion of Dr. Wollkind’s condition?” DiBella asked for clarification.

“No,” Bauman responded.

After Bauman was excused, DiBella called a former district employee, a contemporary of Wollkind’s, music teacher Karl Hermonat, who retired in 2007 after 44 years of teaching at BHS.

Hermonat not only testified that Wollkind was well-liked among the student body, but that humor, including (and sometimes especially) in the form of sarcasm, is a frequently-used tool for teaching.

“I used the words ‘shut up’ a lot and there were some students who were not doing the work who I would say, ‘If you don’t want to do the work you should go elsewhere,’” Hermonat explained. “What I wanted to do was develop responsible adults. We’re preparing them for the adult world.”

Former Wollkind pupil and 1989 BHS graduate Mimi Duff was questioned next, who opened by stating that Wollkind was her “favorite teacher at BHS, and I’d put him up there as my favorite teacher ever.”

Duff, who graduated BHS third in her class, stated that she was rarely challenged in high school but that Wollkind’s classes were the exception.

“Doc made me work hard and he really went out of his way to make me stick with it,” Duff said. “I wanted to drop that class because I was concerned about my GPA,” however Wollkind made sure she received the help she needed to succeed.

“Would he go out of his way for specific students or for anyone?” Wollkind attorney Kent Mancini asked.

“No, for anyone,” Duff said. “Doc made time before school, after school — that was not a Mimi Duff Special.”

When asked, Duff testified that she had never personally seen Wollkind demean students but that he was at times sarcastic. Duff added that Wollkind was not the only one, naming off four other teachers at BHS that were often sarcastic in the way they dealt with, and even taught, students.

Wednesday’s hearing ended with the defense’s questioning of Wollkind. Check back with Brookfield Patch for the full account of the incidents from Wollkind’s perspective.