The longtime leader of a Maryland school system has abruptly retired, following a federal investigation that found that students with disabilities were improperly secluded and physically restrained in county schools.

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       Superintendent Theresa R. Alban’s departure was announced by the Frederick County Board of Education on Monday night. Her retirement, effective immediately, came 12 days after the release of a U.S. Justice Department report that documented more than 7,250 instances of children being isolated or restrained by school staff in non-emergency situations that should have been managed with less harmful interventions.

       The practices involved 125 students as young as 5 years old, according to the investigation, which covered 2？ years of incidents starting in fall 2017. The use of seclusion and restraint often intensified students’ distress, with some engaging in self-harm or exhibiting signs of trauma while secluded, the report said.

       DOJ: Frederick schools engaged in improper use of restraints, seclusion

       Alban, who began as superintendent in 2011, was placed on administrative leave last week. Five days afterward, she and the school system parted ways. Alban’s most recent four-year contract, which pays her a salary of $251,000 a year, was set to end in June 2023.

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       Efforts to reach Alban by email and phone were unsuccessful.

       The school board did not comment in detail Monday night as it announced Alban’s departure, but Board President Brad W. Young posted his thoughts Tuesday on Facebook. Young called Alban a passionate and effective leader but said the federal findings are “extremely serious and must be dealt with.”

       In an interview Tuesday, Young said the responsibility for the students’ treatment is widely shared. “It falls at all of our feet, everybody’s feet,” he said, not just Alban’s.

       “It is not an issue she ignored or didn’t take seriously,” he said.

       The school system of 45,000 students, just north of Montgomery County, agreed in a settlement with federal officials to take steps including banning the use of seclusion, overhauling restraint practices and training staff on appropriate interventions.

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       Federal officials said Frederick County cooperated with the investigation, which examined incident reports, data spreadsheets, policies, training practices and state laws. It found that the school system’s seclusion practices kept students with disabilities separated from their classmates and led to missed instruction for weeks or, in some cases, months.

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       As he explained his thoughts to the community on Facebook, Young said resources and funding will be key. “The school system will need vast new financial resources to put in place all the people and resources necessary to protect these students, our staff and other students,” he wrote.

       Young rejected suggestions to fire staff members at the schools cited in the report, calling them “incredible people.” They need “the resources to do their jobs and protect students,” he wrote.

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       Deputy Superintendent Mike Markoe was named the district’s interim superintendent. Young said he and Markoe would visit the three schools cited by federal officials over the coming days to “give them our commitment of support.”

       “We must and will get better,” Young said.

       The school system, which released a copy of Alban’s separation agreement Tuesday, will pay Alban through the remaining year and a half of her contract, with the same annual raises provided to other professional employees. She will also receive a payout of more than $367,000 for accrued, unused leave.

       With more than a decade at the helm, Alban stayed in her post far longer than the average superintendent. Young lauded her lifelong commitment to education, noting her work in Baltimore, as well as Montgomery and Howard counties, before leading Frederick’s school system.

       In 2017, the state’s association of school superintendents named Alban Maryland Superintendent of the Year.