Schools

Updates from Day II of Wollkind Termination Hearing

Updates from the Thursday, March 3, termination hearing in the case of Robert "Doc" Wollkind.

Follow these links for more about  and .

2:55 p.m.

After another short break, Wollkind's attorney took to questioning Principal Luizzi.

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"You testified that when a child is insulted that's not permitted, that's not acceptable," DiBella said. "Is an insult an intentional act?" he asked.

Luizzi stated that an insult may not be intentional, but what matters is how a comment is received. 

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Do you believe that Doc delivered that comment with a malevolent intent?" DiBella asked of the November 18 incident.

"I believe that Doc was perturbed," Luizzi replied. "I don't think that it was benign intent. Doc doesn't like to be lied to and he reacted to that," referencing statements that the student asserted that he had not received the paper.

"Does it matter to you whether he [Wollkind] intended to insult this student in deciding whether this is a significant occurrence?" McHale asked Luizzi.

"No," he responded. "What matters is what the student heard and how he felt because of the comment... [The comments] certainly were not made for the student to feel good, not made to encourage or support the student, not made for anything positive or anything good... That comment, from a teacher to any student, is not appropriate in any context."

Luizzi was thanked for his testimony and the panel took a short break before hearing from Wollkind himself.

2:10 p.m.

BHS Principal Bryan Luizzi was next in line for questioning after a short break for lunch. Luizzi, who graduated from the high school in 1989, stated for the record that he did not have Wollkind as an instructor during his time as a student.

"What was your impression of him as a teacher prior to the events that led to his termination hearing?" McHale asked.

"A word that comes up is unpredictable," Luizzi said. "As I got to know him there were issues that come from the class, with students. I knew he was dedicated and absolutely passionate about teaching. That really sums it up: passionate but unpredictable."

When asked, Luizzi reiterated other administrators' assessments of the kind of actions that led to this termination hearing, including demeaning comments and allegations that he was unsupportive of weaker students.

"If we look at these one at a time out of context, that's one thing," Luizzi said. "These came to us because they were troublesome, bothersome to those that heard them."

"What the discussion becomes is how they [students] interpret what he has done," he continued. "He didn't deny telling a student that they couldn't pass, he didn't say that he meant to humiliate her," he said of discussing an incident where Wollkind allegedly told a student that she could not pass his class. "It becomes about his intention, not a denial," Luizzi explained.

"'They know I care about them,' Dr. Wollkind would say," Luizzi related. "But there are some that don't and they need to."

McHale asked Luizzi if he believed that termination is the only proper course for the district to take.

"I do," he answered. "The difficultly here is the same issues for 32 years keep reappearing, the commitments to change keep coming but it nothing does. It's been happening for a long time and it shouldn't."

"Whether intended or not, a word or comment or action will send a message to kids they will never forget," Luizzi said. "How dare somebody tell somebody else's kid what they can or can't do. It's unforgivable." 

12:50 p.m.

After Bednarik stepped down, BHS Assistant Principal Joe Palumbo testified to the same November 18 incident. 

Palumbo said that he invited the parents to come in later that day to address the problem.

"The father said, 'Mr. Palumbo, Dr. Wollkind does not know what he's done,'" Palumbo said. "I did not ask him what he meant at that time — I probably should have."

Palumbo testified that Wollkind came to him the day after (November 19). 

"He expressed to me that he was upset that I did not come to him to defuse the situation before I got Bryan [Luizzi] and the parents involved," he said. "I told him that the student reported the incident, that he was embarrassed and that I did not see how we could have handled it in a different way. He said to me many times, 'I'll get fired, I'll get fired.' I told him I didn't think he would be fired."

According to Palumbo, the student's grades dropped precipitously in the second quarter of the year.

"Teachers reported that he had recently had a big drop in his grades, that motivation seemed to be a big problem for him and that he wasn't achieving to his capabilities," he said. Palumbo added that the student had stopped attending practice for the track team and had begun psychological treatment.

"It is your testimony that this treatment is the sole result of Doc's comment?" DiBella asked.

Palumbo said that was never indicated directly but that the treatment was "related to the recent downward spiral," which seemed to coincide with the November 18 incident.

"Do you feel that educators sometimes use sarcasm with kids?" DiBella asked, to which Palumbo replied that he did, though he personally did not have any knowledge of specific incidents.

"In classroom observations, I've never seen it. I'm not aware of it because I haven't seen it, but it could happen," he said.

Asked if sarcasm is something "untoward" in his opinion, Palumbo answered that "if it's abusive, certainly. It's up to the teachers to know if it's going to demean them, hurt them in any way."

"I truly do believe that even though he has trouble with students, he's a good person," Palumbo added. 

Afterward, the hearing broke for lunch.

12:10 p.m.

Wollkind's attorney, Randy DiBella, took over the questioning after a brief break, drilling down into Bednarik's involvement in the events leading up to his 2009 letter and the incidents in November 2010 that led to this termination hearing.

DiBella cited specific incidents recorded by Bednarik in the 2009 letter, asking him which exact words were used to "demean" and "humiliate" parents and students. Bednarik said that he couldn't recall the exact words used, as he was not present and only had brief meetings with Principal Luizzi and some more involved ones with Wollkind himself.

"Would you say these range from trivial to minor?" DiBella asked. 

"I'm sure if you were a student in his class they would not be trivial," Bednarik said. 

Bednarik also mentioned that much of the time during his meetings with Wollkind were taken up by the teacher asking who it was that were making these aspersions. Bednarik said he kept these anonymous, as parents and teachers feared retaliation.

"Was there ever any evidence that Doc Wollkind retaliated?" DiBella asked.

"Never," Bednarik responded. "There was no evidence of retaliation, but I respected that concern. It was a concern of mine as a supervisor, but I didn't have any evidence."

With regard to the incident that took place on November 18, in which Wollkind allegedly asked an overweight student that did not have a certain paper whether he had eaten it, DiBella argued that it was meant to be a humorous statement, similar to "did your dog eat your homework," and was taken out of context.

"He expressed that he did [mean it in a humorous way]," Bednarik said, however he later "admitted that he was angry with the kid, so, because of that particular piece of it, I believe he was trying to get back at the kid," for supposedly being hurt by the student's assertion that Wollkind did not give him the paper.

"Is there any doubt in your mind, based on what Dr. Wollkind told you, any doubt in your mind that that comment meant in a humorous way?" McHale asked Bednarik.

"No, it was not meant in a humorous way," he answered. "He was aware that the student had been bullied [over his weight] — if there's one thing about Dr. Wollkind, he does not forget anything."

Attorney John Gesmond, one of the three-member impartial panel, questioned Bednarik about how students end up in a certain class, asking if they have a choice of teacher or the ability to transfer.

Bednarik answered that students are put in classes randomly, through a computer program, and that the district does not allow for lateral moves. 

"A lot of times students have an idea of what a teacher is like before they get them," Gesmond said. "Do you think that students who get Dr. Wollkind know what they're in for, what to expect?"

"I think so," Bednarik said. "They're also the students who typically perform well," he added, "We see that in the makeup of the students who want to take him: the students who do really well."

10:55 a.m.

BHS math department head Ed Bednarik was the first witness Thursday morning. 

Bednarik, who has been a teacher with the district since the 1997-98 school year, is currently serving in his fourth year as department head.

When he took the position, Bednarik said his predecessor told him "that I would spend a fair amount of my time addressing concerns about Dr. Wollkind," he said, "Putting out fires for Dr. Wollkind."

In Bednarik's estimation, of the nine teachers within his department, more than 90 percent of his administrative time is taken up dealing with issues surrounding Wollkind.

"More than all the other teachers combined would be an accurate statement," he said.

From the time he took up the position as department head in 2007, Bednarik said he immediately began to hear concerns from students and parents.

"I realized pretty quickly as the year began that there was a lot of parent concerns I'd have to address about Dr. Wollkind," he said. "A lot of parent concerns were starting to come in, really starting as the school year started. It got to the point where he'd say 'Ut-oh' when I entered the room."

Bednarik said he did not official document these issues, as he hoped to be able to work with him, however in 2009 it became too much.

"I didn't document the concerns, but they didn't stop," he related. "I said at that point, 'We need to move forward, I need to talk to Dr. Luizzi, we need to move on."

Bednarik wrote a letter to Principal Luizzi and Wollkind in 2009, documenting complaints about demeaning comments, insufficient help for struggling students and at least one instance where Wollkind read a student's grade aloud in class.

School district attorney Patrick McHale asked Bednarik if he thought the demeaning comments and reading of grades were a problem.

"Yes," Bednarik answered firmly. "It's illegal and it's not good for the kids."

Bednarik, who has two children of his own, said he would not be comfortable with his children having Wollkind as a teacher. 

"I worry about what might happen in the class," he said. "I have one who does very well in math and one who struggles and I particularly think about the one who struggles and I would worry very much about him being in his [Wollkind's] class."

10 a.m.

All parties have arrived, as have all three attorneys on the impartial panel. The proceedings should be getting underway soon, with the continuation of questioning by the school district.

In answer to a reader's question, Brookfield High School (BHS) Principal Bryan Luizzi, who is a 1989 BHS graduate, did not have Wollkind as a teacher.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here