Concord Teacher On Leave During 'Online Solicitation' Inquiry

CONCORD, NH — A Concord High School teacher has been placed on leave after a former student made accusations against the teacher claiming they were involved in "inappropriate, online solicitation," according to Kathleen Murphy, the interim superintendent of the Concord School District.

The accusation against the teacher was made to an administrator in the district Wednesday. Based on the information, she said, Concord police and the New Hampshire Department of Education, which handles educator certifications and accusations against school employees, were notified.

"Because the allegations concern possible criminal activity, Concord police assumed jurisdiction of the case and have been working closely with district leadership, who are conducting their own internal investigation," she said. "The employee in question has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigations, and is prohibited from being on district property."

Neither Concord police nor Murphy were available for comment before post time. Since the incident is a personnel matter and an open criminal investigation, limited information about the case is available.

Murphy, in an email to parents, said the safety and wellbeing of SAU 8 students and staff "is and will remain our number one priority." She said updates would be forthcoming, "to the extent possible," while balancing "the privacy interests of the employee" and law enforcement confidentiality.

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The relatively swift decision by Murphy and the district to not only take the accusation of the former student seriously but also looping in police and the state education department as well as the recent incident involving a photographer handing a card to a student about a modeling project, is much different than the Primo "Howie" Leung case. In that case, after accusations were made against the teacher, which were both denied by the student and Leung, he was allowed to stay in the classroom for many months. Later, after an internal investigation and an inquiry to the the state education department, and a police investigation that found at least one other victim, rape and other charges were filed against Leung.

In past conversations, knowing what the district went through with the Leung case, Murphy has said ensuring parents would trust the district to do what was right to keep their children safe was one of her top priorities.

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