Woodland Hills teacher claims superintendent grabbed her hands in hearing over his dismissal

A teacher in the Woodland Hills School District at a public hearing Wednesday accused Superintendent Joe Maluchnik of grabbing her hands and holding them during a tense conversation, offering the latest evidence being used by the school board for how they believe Maluchnik engaged in gender-based discrimination or harassment and should be removed from his position. 

"I was being accused, I was being intimidated, my hands were being held without my permission," sixth-grade teacher Lori McDowell said. 

The teacher's testimony addressed one of the grounds revealed in a charging document two weeks ago, which said Maluchnik had touched a female teacher in a closed-door meeting "in a manner that made her feel uncomfortable."

At Thursday's hearing, the second held in the past month, McDowell said Maluchnik had sent another teacher out of her classroom so they could have a private conversation.

In the conversation, Maluchnik accused McDowell of telling community members and stakeholders that "you hate me," she recounted, saying she responded, "I don't hate you."

A tense back and forth followed with McDowell and Maluchnik standing a foot apart. She said she told him that she found his "vision" for the district confusing and that they hadn't seen him around at the junior high. 

She said Maluchnik looked angry and responded, asking if she "had an ounce of empathy for him," explaining how the district was large and he'd only been on the job a few months.  

McDowell then explained she talks a lot with her hands.

"At that point he reached out, and he took my hand, and then he put my hands together, and he put his hand over my hand and held my hand," McDowell said. 

During the hearing, McDowell and a lawyer for the district visually reenacted what that looked like, showing how Maluchnik grabbed her hands that she'd been using to talk with and held those hands together. 

"It was an uncomfortable amount of time, about 15 seconds," McDowell said. "He just stood there with an odd angry grin on his face, holding my hands." 

At no point did she try to pull her hands away, she said.

"I was shocked and growing unsettled and scared," McDowell said. "I felt like his grip was so tight on my hands that I didn't want to struggle."

On the advice of her union, she emailed Maluchnik saying his visit to her classroom made her uncomfortable, but not directly mentioning him holding her hands. 

Maluchnik would later respond, McDowell said, claiming she was exaggerating their interaction. 

On cross-examination, Maluchnik's lawyer Manning O'Connor asked McDowell if at any point, with her hands held together, she told him to release them.

"I did not," she said, explaining she was in a room alone with an authority figure. 

The lawyer pointed out that despite the other teacher being sent out of the room, she did not stop the conversation to request a union rep be present or that the conversation be held at a later time, which is her right. 

"I was in a freeze mode," McDowell responded. 

The lawyer also pointed out that McDowell didn't go to the district's Title 9 officer, with her saying she didn't know they had one, and her union representative did not advise her to speak to them. 

"That is a concern if it did happen," said parent Tamisha Cauley of Maluchnik's grabbing her hands. "We have to hear both sides. It's just like in the court system, everyone is innocent until proven guilty." 

If true, she said it could be a fireable offense. She added that when she heard the district planned to present evidence that a teacher was touched uncomfortably, she assumed it was going to be about sexual harassment. 

Overall, she felt the charges had not been substantiated against Maluchnik.

"It's still a lot of he says, she says, this is how I felt. I'm not comfortable with the changes he's making," Cauley said. 

She pointed to another witness, the district's special education director, who was also a witness for the district in the meeting. 

Leah Sylvis said Maluchnik ignored many of her emails about the need to have a discussion district having too few school psychologists. She recalled receiving pushback, saying she was told to look at alternate avenues to fill the positions.

She also spoke about how Maluchnik changed the hiring process, and would not engage in a dialogue about it. Sylvis had previously had more autonomy, she said. 

Syvlis said Maluchnik sent a mass email about them needing to have an additional staff member in IEP meetings, rather than discussing it with her first and giving them a chance to correct it.

On cross-examination, Maluchnik's lawyer pointed out she wasn't singled out in that email.

During the cross, Sylvis said she recognized that ultimately, Maluchnik is the Superintendent, adding she feels a collaborative process is important. 

Sylvis said she felt she was treated in the way she was because she is a woman. 

Cathy Welsh, a community member who volunteers within the district, said it's become apparent to her that Maluchnik may be engaged in a pattern of behavior. She felt the charges had been sustained due to how so much had been hostile toward the educators during the hearings, with Maluchnik's lawyer and crowd outbursts. 

Asked what she specifically heard on stage that led her to the same conclusion that there was a hostile work environment for teachers, Welsh said Maluchnik made "women employees feel like they weren't valued or that their opinion didn't matter, that was what really made me feel like he created a work environment where they didn't feel included."

Educators who had been acting as witnesses for the district released a joint statement to KDKA-TV during the meeting, saying their focus has always been on their students and families. 

"We are not here to litigate our experiences in the press. We have lived them. We came forward, despite the fear of retaliation, because a workplace should be defined by safety, integrity, fairness, collaboration, respect, and inclusion — and ours was not.

We remain concerned for the well-being of our students and for the staff who support them every day. The conditions that harm the adults in a building do not stay contained to the adults; they reach the classroom. That is why this matters beyond any one of us.

Our hope is a simple one: a fair process and a school environment where every student and every employee can do their best work, free from hostility and discrimination. That is where our attention is, and where it will stay."

The statement was issued jointly by "Lori McDowell, Jill Regan, Leah Sylvis, and Dr. Pamela White.

The hearing appeared a lot like a trial. There were lawyers, cross-examinations, and objections. 

However, different from a traditional court, the agency bringing the charges — in this case, the school board — is also the jury.

Maluchnik's lawyer, Manning O'Connor, has said Maluchnik was hired to establish accountability, but staff were not on board. He said several people engaged in a concerted effort to smear his reputation based on feelings and suspicions. 

Cameras were not allowed to film the hearing. 

The hearing will reconvene next Wednesday.