Concord School Board Holds Emergency Meeting Sunday With Counsel

CONCORD, NH — Concord Board of Education members held an emergency nonpublic session Sunday to meet with their counsel as a petition to have two school officials removed from the district is just shy of 1,500 signers. Board members held the rare Sunday meeting at 2 p.m. but it is unknown why they were meeting or what they discussed.

The meeting was held less than 72 hours after School Superintendent Terri Forsten came under fire for comments she made in a note to employees before the school year criticizing media coverage in the Concord Monitor and on social media about the arrest of a teacher accused of rape, which she insinuated had turned the community against the district.

That teacher, Primo "Howie" Leung, who was named a distinguished educator in the district at the end of the 2012 school year, was arrested on rape and fondling charges in Massachusetts in April after he was accused of kissing and touching a student in December 2018. The arrest unveiled a wave of accusations of inappropriate behavior dating back at least four years.

Before his arrest, Leung was kept on as a teacher for months and put on a "professional improvement plan" after an investigation by Steve Rothenberg, the vice principal of Concord High School, even though he had deleted photos of himself with the student and the investigation "exposed areas of concern" that had not fully developed.

Forsten met with state officials to find out whether what Rothenberg found in his investigation constituted a violation of the state's code of ethics and code of conduct rules approved last year. That meeting with state officials led to police investigations in two states and to Leung's arrest.

The emergency meeting was also held less than 48 hours after an online petition was launched by parents calling on the school board to remove both Forsten and Concord High School Principal Tom Sica from the district. Sica has been on a paid leave of absence since June 21.

When boards post that they are meeting in nonpublic session with their attorney, there are a limited number of reasons why they can meet privately, according to the state's right-to-know law. RSA 91-A allows boards to meet privately when discussing personnel issues like hirings and firings; matters which, if discussed in public, would affect a person adversely; contract negotiations; security and emergency functions; student issues; legal advice; and the sale of property and other confidential financial matters.

As of 9 p.m. Sunday, the petition had garnered 1,485 signatures.

Issues concerning the post-Leung arrest investigation into how and what the school district did, including the role Sica and others played in allowing Leung to stay on as a teacher, as well as Sica's action disciplining a student who raised concerns about Leung when he and Sica were at Rundlett Middle School, could be discussed outside of the public purview. So would whether Sica will be allowed to returned after his leave of absence expires. Any litigation involving the district, employees, or the investigation itself, as well as discussion of the petition, could also be discussed privately.

Jennifer Patterson, the school board president, said Sunday that the board was aware of the petition and was taking the situation "very seriously" while also "listening carefully to all input" it receives from the public.

"As you know, there is an independent investigation underway that relates to many of the circumstances giving rise to the petition," she said. "When the board receives the results of the investigation, we will determine what action is appropriate."

ALSO READ:

• Online Petition Launched To Have Concord School Officials Removed
• Concord Superintendent Lashes Out At Media Coverage Of District
• Concord School Board To Revise 'Professional Expectations' Policy
• Concord High School Principal Takes A Leave Of Absence
• Labrie's Former Counsel Not Hired To Probe Teacher Rape Case
• Concord School Board Opens New Investigation Into Leung Rape Case
• How A Distinguished Concord Teacher Became A Student Rape Suspect
• Students Saw Concord Teacher Kiss, Hug Another Student: Docs
• Should The Concord School District Have Responded Faster To Case?
• NH Teacher Held Without Bail After Bay State Arraignment
• Concord Teacher Accused Of Raping Student In Newton, MA

Monitor Responds To Forsten's Comments

In the Sunday Monitor, Steve Leone, an editor with the newspaper, responded to Forsten's comments in an editorial and said the newspaper had given her and the district repeated opportunities to respond to "important questions" that needed to be answered but never were.

"That’s when it became clear that the Concord School District had little interest in speaking with us regarding Leung or whether its policies were followed," he said. "Instead, the district, citing legal advice, has relied on the fallback position that speaking on the record would infringe on privacy rights and personnel matters. We have clearly stated our position that the community’s right to know how the school district responded to allegations about Leung outweighs his privacy rights."

Leone called Forsten's comments, especially the fear of negative conversations in the wake of bad press coverage, "a sad statement" to tell employees when it concerns an issue like student safety.

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