Wayland superintendent alleges racial discrimination in new complaint

Wayland Public Schools Superintendent Omar Easy filed a complaint Friday against the Town of Wayland, the school district, and the School Committee alleging that he had suffered unlawful discrimination and retaliation. Easy was placed on administrative leave last Wednesday, two days before the complaint was filed. 

Easy was named superintendent in February 2021, becoming the first person of color to lead Wayland schools. Before that, Easy spent eight years working in the Everett public school system. Easy, a native of Everett, pointed out in his complaint that the city has a Black population of approximately 13%, compared to a less than one percent Black population in Wayland.

The complaint was filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

Easy was the target of racist graffiti that was found on Dec. 21 scrawled on public property adjacent to the high school. He was called the n-word in the graffiti. Police investigated, and a group of local educational leaders condemned the act. 

But, according to Easy, this was not the first time he and other Black members of the Wayland school community were the subject of “explicitly racist behavior.” In fact, he wrote, this behavior is the culmination of a “hostile work environment” that was “fostered and stoked” by the Wayland School Committee. In particular, Easy called out Chair Chris Ryan and Vice Chair Ellen Grieco. 

“Members of the School Committee — chiefly Chair Ryan and Vice Chair Grieco — have subjected me to unlawful discrimination based upon my race, and retaliation for opposing unlawful discrimination. This unlawful conduct has included, without limitation, racial stereotyping, undermining, abusive and disparate treatment, unjustified and highly subjective attacks regarding my reputation and character, and the persistent failure to remedy a severe and pervasive racially hostile work environment,” Easy wrote. 

This began before Easy was even hired, according to the complaint, when Grieco suggested during the hiring process that “Black people lacked leadership skills.”

In response to the complaint, the Wayland School Committee released a statement saying that members could not comment on specific allegations for legal reasons. 

“However, the School Committee wishes to reiterate that the Wayland Public Schools seeks to foster a welcoming, inclusive, anti-racist environment; our actions have and will continue to demonstrate a commitment to those principles. We are asking the members of our school community for their patience during this time,” the School Committee said in a statement. 

In the complaint, Easy outlined several incidents that allegedly caused “severe and persistent harm” to his reputation and emotional health. One such incident occurred around December 2021, when racist graffiti was found at the town’s middle school. 

In response, Easy suggested that cameras be placed in the school’s halls, something that was already done at Wayland High School, according to the complaint. Easy said he was accused of  “destroying Wayland’s culture” and “bringing Everett culture to Wayland,” which he called “a thinly veiled racist reference to my majority-minority hometown and prior employer.”

The School Committee did not support him in these efforts, but instead focused on a “highly subjective” complaint by a subordinate that Easy alleges contained racial stereotypes. 

Easy also said that Ryan and Greico undermined him in response to a letter writing campaign organized by the Wayland Teachers Association. This campaign contained “thinly veiled racist micro-aggressions,” “vague and conclusory allegations of nefarious motives,” and “numerous demonstrably false attacks” on Easy’s job performance, he said in the complaint.

Easy alleged that Ryan and Grieco went behind his back to meet with union members, which encouraged more complaints.  

“Chair Ryan and Vice Chair Grieco then demeaned, humiliated, and further undermined my authority by empowering WTA members to criticize my decision making — including actions I had taken to address discrimination in the workplace — and baselessly attack my motives in a group setting,” Easy said in the complaint. 

The School Committee has still not acted to “remedy the racially hostile work environment” in recent weeks, Easy said. 

Easy’s full complaint can be found below. Images and some text have been censored by Boston.com.

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