The Blue Valley Board of Education voted Monday night to terminate a longtime kindergarten teacher, despite dozens of parents and students showing up in support of her.
Barb Hart was dismissed from Sunset Ridge Elementary School in Overland Park at the end of September for violating the district’s Emergency Safety Intervention policy, which outlines when “seclusion or physical restraint” may be used.
Parents say that on Sept. 30, a special education teacher asked Hart to step into the hallway to help with a student in distress. Multiple parents who spoke to the Post said they believe Hart then physically picked up the student and carried the student to another location.
Hart was later reported for violating the district policy against “physical restraint.”
“It’s a supportive intervention that helps the child regulate in a calmer, safer setting before the behavior escalates,” Blue Valley parent Kacey Edelen said at the meeting, describing Hart’s actions.
District policy states: “District personnel may use seclusion and/or physical restraint only when less restrictive alternatives were determined to be inappropriate or ineffective, and when a student’s behavior presents an immediate danger to self or others.”
Hart had been a teacher at Blue Valley Schools since 1998, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Since Hart’s termination, a petition by supporters to reinstate her has garnered more than 500 signatures, and a GoFundMe has raised over $16,000 for her family.
Tiffany McCalla, whose son was in Hart’s kindergarten class during a previous school year, described her as “extremely trustworthy.”
“Her students will continue to come back and visit her because of the impact she made on them,” McCalla said.
The petition argues that Hart “acted with compassion” and that “her decisions were carried out with care, intention, and alignment with the values we share as a community.”
At Monday’s meeting, dozens of supporters wore shirts printed with hearts and the initials “BH.” Many held signs and spoke during public comment — not only to defend Hart’s actions, but also to criticize the policy they said failed to consider her intent or context of the situation.
Kathy Wiley, a former Blue Valley teacher of 30 years, told the school board that educators deserve case-by-case review.
“A policy that allows for one and only one outcome without taking into account the intent behind the policy really has no place in a district as esteemed as Blue Valley,” Wiley said.
Despite the comments, the school board voted 6-1 to uphold Hart’s termination. Board member Jim McMullen cast the lone dissent.
Because the termination appeared on the consent agenda, there was no public discussion before the vote, and school board members gave no additional comments about Hart’s firing at the meeting.
