Concord Board Of Education Considering Personnel 'Next Steps'

CONCORD, NH — Concord Board of Education members are eyeing the first part of the investigation into how a high school teacher, accused of inappropriate relations, was allowed to stay employed by the district even though he was later arrested on rape charges. Jennifer Patterson, the president of the Concord Board of Education, said board members are in the process of "determining and taking next steps, from a personnel perspective," after reviewing the first part of an investigation by Djuna Perkins of DP Law, a former prosecutor from Massachusetts, who has been investigating how and why Primo "Howie" Leung was allowed to stay employed at the high school for many months before he was arrested on felonious sexual assault charges in Massachusetts in April. Patterson warned, however, that the process and the report itself are confidential under state law as they pertain to personnel issues.

"Our focus now that we have this information about what occurred (who did and knew what when) is on acting as swiftly as possible, with a focus on student safety," she said. "We appreciate all the input we have received and continue to receive from members of the public and we are taking it into consideration as we consider appropriate action."

Patterson said the board remained committed to transparency consistent with applicable laws and there is an additional portion of the report that members will see next week in nonpublic session. The meeting, she added, had not been scheduled, but "more information may be available after that meeting."

Stephen Bennett of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters PLLC, has been an intermediary between board members and Perkins. That interaction is protected under "attorney-client" privilege, with board members being the client. That privilege, however, could easily be rescinded by a vote of the board, so the public can see the information.

Patterson said she would know more next week about what the public could expect as far as transparency of the report information.

"Our hope is that we will be able to release the second part of the report, but we don’t yet know for sure as we haven’t seen it yet," Patterson said. "We definitely understand and appreciate the public’s desire to know how these events could have happened and what we are doing to make sure nothing like this happens again."

The investigation is the second part of a two-prong process that the district and school board have undertaken in the wake of the arrest of Leung, a distinguished educator and special education advisor, who worked at both Rundlett Middle School and Concord High School, in April on rape charges out of Massachusetts. The investigation and arrest began after students came forward and accused him of kissing and hugging a student inside of a vehicle in December 2018, on the Concord Heights. The accusation by students led to a number of investigations and inquiries, with the involvement of high school administrators, the district, the New Hampshire Department of Education, Concord police, and Massachusetts police, across many months while Leung was put on a professional improvement plan and allowed to work at Concord High School.

After the charges, the district and the board, with the help of public input, implemented revised a "professional expectations" policy, that adapting policies from other districts and the state, to protect students and have professional guidelines for all SAU 8 employees. After that was approved, the board began an investigation into the hows and whys of Leung being kept on for so many months.

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