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A longtime volunteer and substitute teacher at Graham and Parks Elementary School is suing Cambridge Public Schools for disability discrimination, alleging that the district prevented her from volunteering because she is in a wheelchair.

Sarah Heine sued CPS earlier this month, alleging CPS administrators prohibited her from volunteering based on her disability. Heine, a licensed elementary school teacher, previously volunteered in the district for 12 years.

CPS spokesperson Jacqueline Piques declined to comment on the lawsuit, writing that the district does not comment on “personnel matters.”

Parents and advocates previously alleged that CPS has continually struggled to meet the needs of students with disabilities in the district. John H. Summers filed a discrimination complaint against the district in 2024 on the grounds that CPS lacked equal tracking measures on buses and vans for disabled students.

But this is one of the first disability discrimination lawsuits from a CPS instructor in recent years. Heine, who was confined to a wheelchair after a car accident when she was a teenager, said she was reluctant to teach full time but found purpose in volunteering at G&P.

Heine was scheduled to fill five substitute teaching jobs in early September, but the assignments were “abruptly” canceled by school administrators. According to Heine’s complaint, she was told that there is “not a para assigned to this classroom to support transitions.”

Heine is unable to accompany a large group of students up stairs because of her wheelchair. But she said in the complaint that this has not been a problem in the past, as other teachers have watched her students travel between their classes.

After all five of her upcoming substitute teaching jobs were canceled, Heine contacted Principal Kathleen Smith. Heine explained that she had a plan to navigate transition plans, writing in the complaint that she believed her jobs were canceled “because I am in a wheelchair.”

Heine included CPS human resources personnel in her communications with Smith, which she said should have notified the district of the disability discrimination complaint. But Heine said she has not heard anything from district leadership about her G&P concerns.

Smith sent out a memo updating G&P’s volunteering policies days after Heine raised her concerns — reiterating the requirement that all volunteers be pre-approved by school leadership. Heines alleged in her lawsuit that this memo effectively blacklisted her from continuing volunteering.

When Heine finally met with Smith to discuss her concerns, Smith expressed a concern that the students’ “‘energy level’ were not conducive to a learning under Ms. Heine’s care,” according to the filed complaint. While Heine was told that she could return to substitute teaching with support of Graham & Parks Assistant Principal Paul McKnight, she has been unable to resume her volunteer work.

“It was very upsetting to after 12 years in this kind of close knit community, to be abruptly excommunicated,” she said in an interview with The Crimson. “That was not fun.”

While Smith was principal at Underwood Elementary School in Newton Public Schools, the district settled a $315,000 lawsuit after a teacher at Underwood sued alleging that NPS discriminated against them when they sought accommodations for fibromyalgia. In 2019, NPS conducted an external investigation that found that Smith created a toxic workplace environment for staff at Underwood.

In 2024, after complaints from teachers and parents that Smith created a “toxic working environment,” CPS hired an outside firm to investigate the allegations. The results of the investigation were never publicly released.

Smith did not respond to a request to comment on the lawsuit.

Heine’s ultimate goal from this lawsuit is to be able to return to volunteering at G&P.

“I feel like I can make a rare contribution to kids who need help,” Heines said. “I do want to go back to Graham and Parks — I mean, that’s really a goal.”

Correction: November 18, 2025

A previous version of this article misspelled the name of Sarah Heine on some references.
— Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at claire.michal@thecrimson.com.