Fired Teacher Produces Evaluations

Positive Reviews Seem at Odds With System's Conclusions

A former Prince William County instructor who is running for a seat on the school board has released a portion of his personnel records to rebut questions about his teaching career, which lasted from 2004 to 2007.

Manes Pierre, who according to a school system investigation had yelled and shouted at teachers and students, sent The Washington Post documents that indicated that he also received positive evaluations.

One evaluator wrote in March 2005 that Pierre was "warm and caring with students" at McAuliffe Elementary School and described him as "friendly to all students and to the staff." Another wrote in February 2006 that Pierre "gets along well with his students" at Freedom High School.

Those comments appear somewhat at odds with the school system's conclusions about Pierre in documents provided to The Post in connection with an employment-discrimination complaint he initiated in 2006. School system investigators concluded, according to documents filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that Pierre violated state testing procedures and made false allegations against fellow teachers.

The commission dismissed Pierre's complaint in July. Earlier this year, officials decided not to renew Pierre's contract.

Pierre contends that Prince William school officials fabricated negative employment records about him so that he would lose in his Nov. 6 contest against incumbent Julie C. Lucas (Neabsco) and Belkacem Hacene-Djaballah, the head of a local foreign language school.

School officials deny Pierre's claims. The school system is "compelled with a strong sense of responsibility to unequivocally refute Mr. Pierre's unsubstantiated allegations," said Keith Imon, associate superintendent for communications and technology.

Pierre has declined in recent weeks to answer questions about specific incidents that came to light in the school system's investigation. He did not return a telephone message yesterday.

Lucas has called for Pierre to release all of his employment records, saying that the evaluations he sent The Post represent only part of the picture. "It's not fair to the public if he puts out part of his record and not the whole record," she said.