Following the resignation of 10 adult robotics mentors on Dec. 11 of last year, ex-MVHS robotics leaders and parent volunteers are alleging a toxic work environment, with additional allegations by a parent volunteer of retaliation from the robotics presidents. 

In an email sent to robotics members, the former mentors said there was a toxic workplace environment perpetuated by Robotics President Stephen Massalt. 

“When you find yourself in an unhealthy situation and have exhausted your options, the right answer is to leave,” the mentors wrote in their resignation email. 

Ex-robotics leadership members also alleged to The Oracle that Robotics Vice President and Secretary Leonard Speiser made legal threats against the mentors following their resignation. 

The Oracle has spoken to Chris Kuszmaul, a volunteer of 15 years, parent of an MVHS robotics student and leader of another school’s robotics program, as well as another MVHS ex-robotics leader whose identity has been withheld due to fear of retribution. For the sake of clarity, their name will appear as ‘John’ in the remainder of the article.

“Mr. Massalt was routinely bullying various mentors by shouting at them and making insulting comments about their supposed incompetence and lack of dedication to mentoring students,” John said. 

According to John, on Sep. 21, Massalt allegedly had an argument with a female mentor and physically assaulted the mentor by placing a hand on the mentor’s shoulder. In a statement to The Oracle, Massalt denied the allegations. 

“The situation surrounding the resignation of mentors has been independently investigated by Mountain View High School and by [global nonprofit robotics program organization] FIRST Robotics,” Massalt said. “The outcome of both investigations did not warrant further action and the investigations were closed.”

Massalt also said that he had only given her a side-hug at the end of their conversation when the mentor made an accusation against him. Both the allegations of behavior and physical assault were reported to MVHS Principal Dr. Kip Glazer and the FIRST incident reporting system in early November. All investigations of physical assault and toxic behavior by Massalt were closed and Massalt remains in his position.

John and Kuszmaul also alleged that on Dec. 31, Speiser threatened the mentors who resigned with legal action. The alleged threats, which Kuszmaul said were stated directly to him, centered around Speiser commenting that he was holding parents back from taking legal action against the mentors who had left the team, and mentioning that after the investigation by FIRST had concluded, he would no longer hold them back from litigating against the group. 

“He was trying to assert simultaneously that he wasn’t making a threat, [while] at the same time making it clear that he was controlling whether or not that threat would be carried out,” Kuszmaul said. 

In comments to the Oracle, Speiser said he has not spoken at length with the mentors following their resignation.

“I have only communicated with one of the mentors since their resignation at a recent competition where the only topic was my congratulating them on joining an excellent team that was also competing at the event,” Speiser said. 

The mentors lodged another complaint with FIRST and claimed that Speiser’s actions violated FIRST’s policy against retaliation, which was later closed.

“This threat has also had a chilling effect, making the mentors who resigned less willing to speak up publicly about what happened,” John said.

In September, the same mentor who was the alleged victim of the assault had also notified Speiser of a student being in a room alone with Massalt, which is against FIRST policy. 

“She let me know that she did not observe anything inappropriate and that she did not think the student was in any risk,” Speiser said. “[She] did mention he was agitated when they spoke.” 

According to Speiser, Massalt reached out to Speiser the same evening to apologize for his angry tone, mentioning that he was not happy with how the mentor communicated with him. He reaffirmed that the leadership needs to ensure there is a third party present when meeting with students. 

On Nov. 8, the mentor officially filed a report to FIRST, and let Dr. Glazer know of the complaint. The same day, Dr. Glazer spoke with the student involved, who said that they stepped away from a noisy lab with Massalt to join a meeting scheduled with the mentor. The duration of the student being alone with Massalt was short and they did not feel uncomfortable. Dr. Glazer concluded that there was no Ed Code violation, and followed up on Nov. 19 to ensure the student did not experience any issues.  

The FIRST investigation came to the same conclusion according to documents provided in response to a Public Records Act Request, and informed Dr. Glazer that Massalt was still eligible to continue with his role in the robotics program. 

After the investigations closed, around seven mentors met with Massalt and Speiser. The mentors gave Massalt the options of either stepping down from his position as president or the mentors resigning, “to protect themselves from his behavior,” John said. Massalt refused to leave, and a resignation email was subsequently sent out to robotics students and parents with 10 mentors’ names signed. According to Kuszmaul, all four of the lead mentors were either forced to resign or left the team out of concern for safety.  The mentors included several FIRST and MVHS Robotics alumni, as well as multiple [mentors] who had been with MVHS robotics for a decade or longer. 

“[They] were brilliant mentors, and they were irreplaceable,” club advisor Patrick Murphy said. 

Along with the resigned mentors, multiple parent volunteers and other mentors were forced out of the program, Kuszmaul said, “simply because they were associated with people who resigned.” 

This included him and his son James Kuszmaul, who were removed from Slack, the messaging app used by the robotics program. Kuszmaul also stated that he had been removed from the team Slack channel as a form of retaliation, though Speiser claims this was due to Kuszmaul’s inactive status. 

Following their resignation, on Dec. 14, Massalt and Speiser organized a meeting with robotics students and parents, which Principal Dr. Glazer attended. During the meeting, attendants were told that the resignation of mentors was a result of a disagreement about whether students, mentors, or both should make decisions regarding the program. John and Kuszmaul strongly dispute this.

“While this was an active point of disagreement between many of the mentors who resigned and Mr. Massalt and Mr. Speiser, the toxic behavior by Mr. Massalt and the lack of action by the school and FIRST was the actual final straw,” John said. 

Since the conflicts, Mr. Murphy has looked into potential implications this has had on the relationship between students and mentors. “We interviewed probably about 90 students, and they said there were no issues between mentors and students,” Mr. Murphy said. “We’re moving on, and they’re doing very well.” 

In a statement addressed to Dr. Glazer and signed by 33 robotics students, students reported feeling “safe, welcome, included, and motivated” by Massalt. 

According to Mr. Murphy, the robotics teams have also been working towards being more transparent in their decisions. 

“Everybody gets together and we hash out what needs to be done as a team, rather than a few individuals or certain groups,” Mr. Murphy said. 

Note from the editor: In the reporting for this article, the writer reached out to a number of people involved in the situation, both those currently in robotics and those who left. Robotics students did not speak to the Oracle and we understand that they were instructed not to by current MVHS Robotics leadership.