BOE Formally Ousts Debra Cassidy

The Board of Education is backing the ouster of a popular teacher at . The board on Monday voted to not renew the contract of Debra Cassidy, the Hartford Courant reports.

Cassidy’s dismissal from her foreign language teaching job earlier this month sparked a sit-in at the school and the suspension of one student. Students at the school also have started a petition drive to save their teacher’s job.

Cassidy was suspended and is being investigated by the school system, whose administrators are calling her a "disturbance to the learning process at the high school," her husband has said.

School administrators had asked three non-tenured teachers to resign and two of them have done so. Cassidy is the only one who refused to resign, officials said.