Administrator Firings Expected in Stamford Teacher Sex Case; Resignation Expected for An Assistant Superintendent

Disciplinary actions against several Stamford school employees who failed to report a Stamford High School teacher was having an affair with a student will include the firing of the school’s two former principals and the resignation of an assistant school superintendent.

If the Board of Education approves, the former Stamford High School principals Donna Valentine and Roth Nordin, who were arrested for failing to report to authorities that former teacher Danielle Watkins was having an affair with a student will be fired, according to The Advocate.

Assistant Superintendent Michael Fernandes is expected to resign, according to the report.

Superintendent Winifred Hamilton also said the school district’s human resources director Stephen Falcone will be suspended for four weeks and that two Stamford High School security guards and a social worker also will be disciplined.

The disciplinary fallout is the result of the conviction earlier this year of Watkins, a former English teacher at the school, on sexual assault charges stemming from an affair with one student and her supplying marijuana to that student and one other.

Watkins is serving a five-year jail sentence on the sexual assault charges. Valentine and Nordin, who were arrested for failing to report the affair to state and local authorities as required by law, have been received a special form of probation that could erase their arrest record, if the probation is successfully completed.

Related stories:

• Jail Time for Ex-Stamford HS Teacher in Student Sex Case
• City Opens Investigation into Stamford High School Teacher Sex Scandal
• Stamford HS Administrators Seek Special Probation Program
• Stamford HS Administrators Plead Not Guilty
• Stamford Teacher Is Accused of Sexual Assault of Student
• Prosecutors May Seek Plea Deal in Stamford HS Teacher Sex Assault Case
• Stamford High Administrators Receive Probation
• Stamford Teacher’s Plea Deal Offer Includes Jail Time

The Advocate story can be found here.

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Photo: Stamford High School. Credit: Stamford Public Schools.