WESTFIELD – Westfield Schools Superintendent Suzanne Scallion said she was proud of the way students handled themselves during a walkout at the high school Thursday morning.
Students staged a peaceful protest and walked out of class at 9 a.m. to show support for Westfield High School Principal Dennis Duquette, who was placed on leave Wednesday.
Scallion said students were respectful and she appreciated their support for Duquette. The reason they thought he was placed on leave had nothing to do with the situation.
“It is not about the dog donation,” she said.
Parents and students speculated on social media that Duquette’s swift departure was because of a gofundme.com account students established in Duquette’s name to help pay for surgery for his dog Jake, a therapy dog who spends time at the high school. Duquette announced last Friday that he was not able to accept the donation and he and Jake would like to donate the money to the animal shelter.
Parents posted online that they believed a teacher at the school reported Duquette for not making the donation faster.
Scallion said that is not true and the reason for his leave is “confidential.”
Scallion said while social media can be a great tool, it can also be detrimental to a situation.
“In this case it was destructive and hurt people,” she said.
Scallion touted Duquette’s abilities to lead the high school.
“I have every confidence in Mr. Duquette,” she said. “He is a great motivator and confidence builder and he has skills needed at the high school.”
Scallion also said rumors of his termination are unfounded.
“Mr. Duquette will be back in school on Monday,” she said.
Scallion said several lessons should be taken from the events of the past two days. One is that the students were respectful and she was happy to see them rally together for Duquette.
“It was a beautiful gesture that they care about their principal and support him,” she said.
The other lesson is that social media can be damaging when people express feelings about unsubstantiated events.
“It’s not healthy for anybody and it could hurt somebody,” she said. “We want to set a good example.”
