Paula Shaw was placed on leave Oct. 24 “pending further investigation into matters relating to your employment and your conduct in the workplace,” according to the district's personnel records.
The school board vote unanimously to accept Shaw’s resignation at Thursday night’s special meeting.
Five issues were identified during an investigation through the Montgomery County Educational Service Center:
- Leaving students unattended
- Giving student credits for work they did not complete in Odysseyware, an online curriculum system
- Not depositing money per district guidelines
- Making a disparaging comment to a student about a district drug policy
- Writing a paper for a student
Of the issues, the investigator reported that she believed Shaw wrote a student’s paper for an AP literature class, according to district records.
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“First of all, [redacted] admitted that she wrote the paper,” the report read. “Second, [redacted] was supposed to do the assignment over the summer and chose not to do so, and appeared to have accepted the consequences of not turning it in until Paula talked with [redacted] about it.”
The student also reportedly told the investigator that they were not aware what she was typing when the student and Shaw discussed her notes.
The investigator also found that it appeared Shaw would leave students unsupervised in her office, but the investigator was not able to give specific dates or times.
Odysseyware guidelines were not clear enough for the investigator to find that Shaw gave credit to students for work that was not completed.
As for incorrectly depositing money, Shaw said she did not have time to deposit the funds and admitted that she did not follow the district’s policy in regards to depositing money, according to district records.
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Finally, the investigator could find evidence that Shaw made a disparaging comment about the district’s drug policy to a student.
Since being placed on leave, the district has paid Shaw $23,574.70, according to Kay Altenburger, Milton-Union treasurer and CFO.
Shaw has been with the district for nearly 20 years.
She was named the 2015-16 Ohio Guidance Counselor of the Year.
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