Three Chicopee school employees have suffered concussions from student assaults since classes began in September, including one staff member who was pregnant at the time, according to the local teachers union. After a Monday night Chicopee School Committee meeting, educators described a mounting safety crisis at Fairview Elementary School, pointing to vacant positions, violent incidents, and what they called inadequate district action.
Union Leaders Detail Injuries and Staffing Gaps
Chicopee Education Association Co-President Jess Bean told The Reminder after the meeting that three staff members had been concussed by students since the school year started, including a pregnant staff member. Bean also said that, as of Nov. 2, Fairview Elementary had 17 vacant positions. The union represents roughly 1,400 public school district staff members across Chicopee, according to seed reporting from MassLive.
WWLP, which also covered the meeting, reported that staff members throughout the district have experienced injuries during incidents they say are occurring regularly. That station's report noted that specific measures to address the concerns were not outlined in the information presented at the meeting, and it remained unclear at that time what actions the district might take in response to the union's concerns.
A Teacher's Account of Escalating Behavior
Fairview fifth-grade teacher Michelle Reardon, an educator of 28 years according to MassLive's reporting, told the committee that the school has recently seen behaviors she considers increasingly dangerous to students and staff, per The Reminder. MassLive's seed reporting adds that Reardon described students throwing furniture, making death threats, brandishing weapons, choking adults, kicking, and assaulting staff, and that she said serious injuries and resignations have left positions unfilled in ways that affect staff morale and educator retention.
Chicopee Educators Association Co-President Will Kulig, a chemistry teacher at Chicopee Comprehensive High School, said he first heard of a Fairview incident at the beginning of the school year and described a higher-than-normal cluster of incidents at that one school this year, per MassLive's reporting. Kulig said school violence incidents are occurring beyond Fairview, Chicopee, and Massachusetts more broadly, and he attributed student behavior problems in part to changed societal norms and limited positive social interaction. He told WWLP that this is a state and national trend that has been growing.
A Husband Speaks on Behalf of an Injured Staffer
Gina Potorski-Dahl spoke on behalf of her husband, Eric Dahl, a transition specialist in the Crossroads program, which helps people with disabilities transition to adult life on the Fairview campus on Memorial Drive, according to MassLive. Dahl said he was assaulted at work on the morning of Oct. 26, struck in the head with a closed fist, and sustained a concussion that caused him to miss work, per the same Reminder account. MassLive's reporting states that Dahl said he was threatened and physically assaulted at work and is following medical guidance for his recovery and return to work.
District Points to Existing Safety Protocols
Chicopee Public Schools said its safety measures include walkie-talkies, standardized behavioral response and de-escalation training protocols, daily facility safety checks, and regular inspections of designated safe spaces, the district told The Reminder. The district also said it conducts post-incident reviews to evaluate incidents and, when necessary, updates individualized education and safety plans.
Chicopee Mayor John Vieau, who serves as chair of the Chicopee School Committee, said school safety requires ongoing attention, communication, accountability, and adaptation, according to MassLive's reporting. Separately, a Fairview school resource officer reported several incidents over the preceding few weeks, including one recent incident that will result in criminal charges against a student, per the seed reporting; an investigation into that incident remains open.
Wider Pressures on the Chicopee District
The concerns raised at Fairview come as Chicopee Public Schools has 60 open positions districtwide, according to MassLive's reporting. Fairview Elementary itself serves 378 students from kindergarten through fifth grade, per state education department figures cited in the same report. Kulig said teachers have left the school and district amid increasingly violent incidents, MassLive reported.
The district has previously described steps aimed at improving safety. In 2025, officials said camera upgrades or installations were underway or planned across all 15 school buildings, with Fairview included in a phase expected to be completed by the end of April, according to an earlier Reminder report. In August 2024, the district said it was working on restorative practices, classroom management techniques, and increased de-escalation training, and planned to establish a threat assessment team as part of improvements to school crisis teams.
Statewide Surveys Echo Teacher Concerns
The Chicopee complaints land amid broader statewide findings about classroom conditions. A September poll by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Center for Education Policy found that working conditions, school funding, and violence in the classroom topped the list of issues educators wanted more attention paid to, according to UMass Amherst. That survey found 77% of Massachusetts K-12 teachers said public education in the United States was on the wrong track, while just 6% said it was headed in the right direction.
The same UMass poll found that while 75% of surveyed teachers said they found teaching enjoyable and 84% found it fulfilling, 42% said they did not find the work sustainable. Six in ten teachers reported student disinterest as an obstacle to classroom success, and 51% cited unclear standards for student behavior and discipline. A separate survey of 1,061 Massachusetts teachers, reported by Boston 25 News, found 71% of respondents said they had experienced violence by a student at least once, and 34% said it had happened more than once; 93% said they had been subjected to verbal abuse, while 67% said they generally felt safe in their classrooms.
Back in Chicopee, parent Heather Santaniello told the committee she feared the consequences of weapons entering schools, according to MassLive's reporting. School staff and parents have reported repeated incidents of students assaulting staff, brandishing weapons, throwing furniture, and worsening behavioral problems, the same report states. Chicopee Public Schools Superintendent Marcus Ware leads the district, and the Chicopee Police Department identified Travis Odiorne as its public information officer, per MassLive.
