Smithfield superintendent on admin. leave pending legal review of ‘football matter’

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (WLNE) — Smithfield schools superintendent Dawn Bartz is on administrative leave according to an attorney for the Smithfield school system.

According to the statement from Attorney Sean Clough, Bartz is on leave “pending the outcome of a legal review regarding the administration’s recent handling of a football matter.”

Assistant Superintendent Lisa Odom-Villella has agreed to take up the Acting Superintendent role, according to Clough. 

Smithfield school committee Chair Richard Iannitelli said that the school committee will not be commenting further on this matter at this time. 

An alleged anti-Semitic hazing incident recently occurred at Smithfield High School, reportedly involving school football team players and a Jewish student.

Those players were later reinstated by the school.

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office of the Civil Rights Advocate recently opened a civil investigation into the alleged incident and the school’s handling of it.