A Lexington teacher is fighting her termination. School officials say they can’t talk.

A Fayette County teacher has notified state school officials that she will appeal Superintendent Manny Caulk’s decision to fire her, according to state documents obtained under the Kentucky Open Records Act.

The documents do not say why Caulk terminated Maggie Bastolla. But documents with the agenda for the Oct. 22 school board meeting said her assignment was “exceptional child learning and behavior” at Yates Elementary and that a decision was made to terminate her on September 4.

J. Follace Fields II, the Lexington attorney identified in a September appeal letter to the state as representing Bastolla, declined to comment Thursday.

Bastolla’s appeal entitles her to a hearing before a three-person panel. It is set for December 3-6.

Terminations and suspensions that are appealed are uncommon in Fayette County, with less than 10 cases in state records since 2013. A review of appeals since 2013 show that in Fayette County and statewide, tribunals have most often reversed or modified local superintendent decisions, or the cases have been settled.

Fayette County school officials said that “any documents related to this matter are exempt from public release because the termination process is not final.”

Fayette schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said district employees such as Bastolla who are certified by the state have a due process right to a tribunal and the termination is not considered final until that process is complete.

Does the termination mean that Bastolla is currently not working in the school district? Deffendall said she could not comment further.

“This is not a matter of withholding information, rather, it is a legal requirement that we not discuss pending personnel issues, “ Deffendall said.

“A teacher can be terminated for insubordination, conduct unbecoming a teacher, inefficiency, incompetency, or neglect of duty, so we would discourage speculation about what led to the superintendent’s decision in this case,” Deffendall explained.

Members of the three-person panel, or tribunal, are selected by Kentucky Department of Education officials. It consists of a teacher, who may be retired; an administrator, who may be retired; and one lay person. None of the members resides in the district which took action against the employee. All tribunal members are trained by the Kentucky Department of Education. A hearing officer presides over the hearing.

Legislation introduced in the 2018 General Assembly to change the tribunal process, including altering the composition of the panel and how the tribunal could affect the superintendent’s decision, was not successful. Caulk has previously said he thinks improvements should be made to the tribunal process so that the interests of students come first.

Herald-Leader staff writer Linda Blackford contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 4:43 PM.