LAKEVILLE — Freetown-Lakeville Regional School Committee member Carolina Hernandez has disputed claims made about her by former superintendent of schools Alan Strauss, saying she did not “mistreat or abuse’’ him.

In a statement read at the Feb. 5 meeting of the Freetown Lakeville Regional School Committee, Hernandez said she had “very little interaction’’ with Strauss and “never questioned his health.’’

At the Jan. 8 meeting of the committee, Strauss announced his resignation, stating in part that Hernandez and fellow School Committee member Crystal Ng “made defamatory statements about my health.’’

These comments, he said, were “vicious and defamatory efforts to destroy my professional reputation.’’

Hernandez countered at the Feb. 5 meeting that she has done nothing “in a malicious manner.’’ 

“I have the right to free speech,’’ she said, and to “access and hear different points of view.’’

She explained that she did not attend the executive session in which a settlement was reached between Strauss and the school committee because she was unavailable. School Committee members knew she could not attend, she said, because she had informed them of dates when was not available. 

They subsequently chose executive session meeting dates when committee members knew she was not available, she stated.

Strauss received a settlement of $144,913 from the committee upon his resignation. 

He has subsequently informed the Town of Lakeville that he might sue for up to $1 million.

His notice of a potential suit against the town said that Hernandez and Ng, who represent Lakeville, “made false and defamatory statements alleging that Superintendent Strauss is not actually sick with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia,’’ according to the letter from the Wellesley Hills law firm of Lenow and McCarthy and signed by Sheilah McCarthy.

Hernandez said that “a lot of energy’’ has been expended to “discredit myself and my persona.’’

The situation, she said, is “very troubling.’’