Wayland’s first Black superintendent and former NFL player Omar Easy said he faced racial discrimination and a hostile work environment and that the district’s school committee “fanned the flames” in a complaint to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Easy said he has been the target of racial harassment, retaliation and threats since he became superintendent of the small suburban district less than two years ago, saying there was a “racially hostile work environment created by the School Committee’s actions and inactions.”
“Explicitly racist behavior has targeted me, Black employees, and Black students in Wayland,” Easy said in the complaint. “Such behavior has been the apex of a hostile work environment fostered and stoked by the Wayland School Committee — and in particular Chair Chris Ryan and Vice Chair Ellen Grieco.”
Easy said he was placed on leave three weeks after raising concerns about unlawful discrimination in the district. Most notably, he was the subject of a racial slur that was spray-painted on a buiding near Wayland High School in December.
The Wayland School Committee placed Easy on leave last week during following an executive session, conducted in private because it dealt with personnel matters.
A spokesperson for the Wayland School Committee said it is “unable to comment on the specific allegations."
“The Wayland Public Schools seeks to foster a welcoming, inclusive, anti-racist environment and our actions have and will continue to demonstrate a commitment to those principles,” the spokesperson said in a statement to GBH News. “We are asking the members of our school community for their patience during this time.”
Easy declined to be interviewed. But he filed the complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination on Friday, two days after he was placed on leave. MCAD is a state agency that investigates and enforces allegations of discrimination.
In his complaint, Easy described being surprised that he was suddenly put on leave.
“While no discipline was issued, the public damage to my authority and reputation was substantial,” he said.
Easy also said he had learned that Grieco, the committee’s vice chair, asked consultants during the superintendent search that ultimately resulted in his hiring “to find additional White candidates after two of the three finalists were Black."
Grieco did not respond to a request for comment.
Easy said that all school committee members have been white during his tenure and that he has been one of three Black administrators.
Easy said he was stereotyped as a “big scary Black man” and “thug" on the job by school and town employees, but when he raised concerns about such treatment to the school committee, they were never addressed.
An official at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination said it will launch a formal investigation interviewing all parties involved.
