MONROE, Wash. — Editor’s note: The video above was originally published in Dec. 2021 when Monroe School District Superintendent Dr. Justin Blasko was placed on administrative leave.
Monroe School District (MSD) Superintendent Dr. Justin Blasko will resign and receive nearly $400,000 after an investigation showed employee claims of his behavior creating a toxic work environment were mostly credible.
Under a settlement agreement, Blasko agreed to resign at the close of business on July 31 and that he won't sue or seek a job with the district ever again. The settlement agreement was announced last week and unanimously approved by the school board during a meeting Monday night.
“We believe the separation agreement with Dr. Blasko was the best option for the district as a whole,” MSD Board President Jennifer Bumpus wrote in a letter to the school community.
Bumpus said Blasko will receive a year of severance pay that will be paid in full by Aug. 31. The severance pay includes the cost of all benefits and leave cash out, but Bumpus wrote the "amount is significantly less than the amount that would have been owed under his existing three-year contract if no separation agreement was reached.”
The payout will not impact the school budget for the upcoming school year since the “contingencies were built into the 2021-2022 budget,” Bumpus wrote.
Blasko was put on paid leave in December following calls from teachers, parents and students for him to resign for not doing enough to stop racism and hate. Some district teachers and others alleged a years-long pattern of racism, hate, and discrimination in their schools in the form of students targeting other students. The groups accused school leaders of largely looking the other way.
The district said it hired the Seabold Group to provide a neutral, third-party investigation into Blasko’s conduct as superintendent. Many complaints against Blasko were about comments made that were viewed as “insensitive, unprofessional, and in some cases cruel,” according to the investigation findings. Some staffers said they felt targeted by Blasko.
Investigators found most of the allegations credible, but Blasko “denied making most of the comments attributed to him” during his investigative interview, documents show.
In response to the report, Blasko apologized to people hurt by his actions and said as he dealt with pandemic-induced stress, he did not always keep his emotions in check.
He said he did not recall many of the specific incidents but said “I do not question the integrity of the people who have contributed to the report, nor do I question the validity of their personal experiences or perceptions.”
The separation agreement also requires the district to remove the investigation and Blasko’s response from its website within seven days of the board’s action. Those documents will be available through a public records request.
Blasko was hired in 2010 as the district’s executive director of human resources. In 2016, he was named assistant superintendent of learning and teaching before he was chosen to lead the district in February 2020.