Twin actions cause minor uproar
By JOSH RESNEK
The Everett School Department’s Human Resources chief and the Crimson Tide’s head football coach have been fired and indefinitely suspended, respectively, in separate actions taken by Superintendent Priya Tahiliani with the approval and or the acquiescence of the School Committee.
Cari Wahlberg, the human resources chief, was fired as she neared the end of her one year contract with the School Department.
Theluxon Pierre, the Crimson Tide football coach who took over for John DiBiaso two years ago, has apparently been suspended because of serious allegations lodged against him publicly by his wife on Facebook.
Sources said Wahlberg was fired due to her inability to join Tahiliani and her assistant in their new administration of the Everett Public Schools, according to a source familiar with the firing.
“The real reason she was fired relates to School Committee Chairman Thomas Abruzzese’s ire being raised because Wahlberg hired special investigators to look into abuses allegedly committed by two of his sons who were employed by the School Department,” added the source.
“Abruzzese wanted revenge and he appears to have gotten it,” the source added.
Wahlberg’s contract would have ended in June.
One of Abruzzese’s sons has been removed as an elementary school physical education instructor and has been on paid leave since January as a result of a domestic abuse incident and his subsequent arrest.
He is also under investigation by the State Police for allegations of inappropriate texting with students, and for incriminating materials allegedly found on his school computer, which remains in the custody of investigators.
A second son, employed as a janitor at an Everett elementary school, was allegedly charged with abuse of overtime.
Abruzzese’s outrage over the twin investigations of his sons includes an apparent effort to stifle talk about the school department investigations now ongoing. According to another source, all employees in the School Department having anything to do with the investigations have been made to sign non-disclosure documents about the investigations.
Pierre, school department sources revealed to the Leader Herald, has been suspended indefinitely with pay.
Ironically, Pierre was on the Superintendent Choice Committee that chose Tahiliani.
In a long and detailed Facebook post that his wife, Mrs. Geraldine Pierre, posted last week, she indicated her husband’s life has fallen apart since losing the last football game of the season in 2019. According to her, he has been practicing voodoo in Haiti since the loss; a post which included photographs of her husband’s voodoo creations.
She made claims of being abused mentally and physically by her husband, according to the Facebook posting which has since been removed from the site.