Former New London principal drops suit against school district
New London — Former New London middle school principal Alison Burdick withdrew her lawsuit against the school superintendent and Board of Education on Wednesday, a day before a scheduled court hearing.
A New London judge was set to hear arguments Thursday in the school district’s motion to dismiss the case.
The reason for the withdrawal is unclear but it signals a possible end to a contentious battle between Burdick and school administrators she had accused in the suit of unfair treatment, retaliation and “a campaign of defamation.”
Burdick was placed on paid administrative leave on May 7, 2019, for allegedly mishandling confidential student records.
In response to her suspension, Burdick argued in a lawsuit that she had only followed Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie’s directive to fully cooperate with police during the investigation earlier this year of Corriche Gaskin, the middle school climate specialist accused of sexually assaulting two students at the school in 2017. Gaskin has since been fired.
The school district, represented by attorney Johanna Zelman, argued that Burdick, unsolicited, handed over 153 pages of student educational records to a police detective despite a warning not to provide any student-related information. A detective had notified Ritchie about Burdick’s dissemination of the documents and returned them.
Burdick additionally had forwarded several emails to police, which the school district claims was an attempt to show she was not Gaskin’s supervisor despite the fact she did have some supervisory role over Gaskin during his time in the district.
In addition to financial compensation, Burdick in her suit sought preliminary injunctions ordering “that Ritchie reveal to the public the truth about Dr. Burdick’s non-involvement with Mr. Gaskin,” and the termination of Burdick's leave and "immediate return to work as an administrator.”
The district had filed a motion in July to dismiss Burdick’s suit, rebuting Burdick's claims that she was the target of defamatory statements and unfair discipline.
Burdick had named Ritchie; Kate McCoy, executive director of planning, administration and government relations; Board of Education President Manuel Rivera; school board member Mirna Martinez and the entire Board of Education in the suit.
Burdick claimed in the suit that the district had not done enough during public forums following the Gaskin arrest to correct members of the public from making false statements. In fact, Burdick claimed in the suit “Ritchie had intentionally encouraged parents and members of the public to defame and libel Dr. Burdick and to harm her reputation.”
Ritchie denied the claims.
Burdick additionally claimed that Ritchie had retaliated against her in response to a complaint Burdick filed against her with the state Department of Children and Families. The subject of the alleged complaint is unknown.
Ritchie denied a complaint was ever filed, however, and wrote in the motion to dismiss that “DCF informed me that they have no record of a DCF report being made against me at any time.” The DCF letter was included in the nearly 200 pages of documents to support the motion to dismiss.
When she was placed on leave, Burdick was the director of the International Education magnet program at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School. In June, while on leave, Burdick was named the new director of adult education as part of sweeping changes to various administrative roles at the middle school and high school.
Maria Pukas, the retiring director of adult education, remained at her post this week.
Burdick and her attorney, James F. Sullivan, declined comment. Kristea A. Francolino, the school district’s manager of executive support services, declined comment and said the matter was a personnel issue.
