Cogswell: Another View Of The Concord Schools

A terrible thing happened in our community. A high school teacher, a "trusted adult," stands charged with sexually assaulting one of our students. This fact is appalling, frightening and extremely disheartening. As a community our hearts go out to the young victim and her family. We need our children to be safe and they need to know they’re safe.

When terrible things happen it is natural to feel angry. It is also natural to want to know who is to blame. Clearly the perpetrator, but who else? It seems that if we can find someone to blame then we can have the illusion that the problem has been solved. Of course the world is more complicated than that and the solution will involve an ongoing effort from staff and the community and including our students in age appropriate ways.

I am writing to urge our community to avoid rushing to judgement regarding the serious issues we have been dealing with in the Concord School District. I see our community becoming divided and that a petition has been circulated seeking the immediate termination of our high school principal, Tom Sica. I urge you to avoid turning your back on Mr. Sica during the formal investigation.

I have a unique perspective to offer having worked in the district for many years as a school counselor at the elementary level and then a special education coordinator at the high school and the middle school. I worked at Conant, Walker, Rumford, Dame, Eastman, Dewey, Rundlett and CHS. Over twenty five years of employment I worked in almost every school and with sixteen different principals and assistant principals including Tom Sica for many years. Most of the principals had significant strengths and much to add to our educational programs. Every one of them cared deeply about the safety of our students while they were in school, but also in the community and in their own homes. Of them all there is no finer person or educator than Tom Sica. Tom is a man of integrity with the highest ethical standards. He takes time with students and adults, listens carefully, considers carefully and cares deeply for our children and about our schools. His kindness and his good heartedness are legendary. He is the genuine article, the person you want to sit down with when there are problems to solve, tricky issues to deal with, children's well being at stake. I never witnessed Tom making snap judgements or jumping to conclusions. He was never too busy to listen, and could always make time for the kids, for the parents, for the staff and for me. I am fully aware of the mandatory reporting laws regarding the suspected abuse of children and I’m certain that Tom Sica also knows the law. This is why the information I have to date is so puzzling, upsetting and at odds with what I know of Tom.

It breaks my heart to see what has happened in our community. I am asking you to suspend judgement until the facts are in. I’m asking you to pause. I don’t pretend to know who is right, who has made mistakes, or who is just plain wrong in all of this. But rampant rumors, children up in arms, families worried or up in arms, staff heartbroken about what has happened and how to keep all of our precious students safe, all while Tom is being condemned in the court of public opinion is not helping anyone. I don’t know more than anyone else in the community about why Tom suspended the young girl from Rundlett. I know that I don’t know the whole story and neither do you. With the exception of a very few, we are the bystanders in this situation and we must take that role seriously and be good ones. We cannot contribute to the problem or create more problems. I, for one, will do what Tom would do for me were the tables turned. I will keep an open mind, I will listen carefully, I will not rush to judgement and I will not speak ill of him. I will be kind and good hearted. I will set a good example as he has done for so many others over the years. I urge you to do the same.

Jane Cogswell