Schools

Embattled Concord School Super Terminated By Board Of Education

Update: SAU 8 Superintendent Terri Forsten was terminated on Sept. 25 and a settlement accepted Friday. Franklyn Bass hired as interim.

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Embattled SAU 8 School Superintendent was terminated on Sept. 25 and a resignation settlement was accepted Nov. 1.
Embattled SAU 8 School Superintendent was terminated on Sept. 25 and a resignation settlement was accepted Nov. 1. (Tony Schinella, file photos, YouTube.)

CONCORD, NH — The Concord Board of Education has terminated the services of School Superintendent Terri Forsten after a vote Friday to unseal a portion of the minutes of a nonpublic meeting on Sept. 25. The decision to terminate Forsten occurred at that meeting, however the meeting minutes were sealed until this evening. Board members came to the decision two days after examining the internal investigatory documents concerning the Primo "Howie" Leung teacher-student rape investigation.

After unsealing a portion of the minutes, the board voted to terminate Forsten, not renew her contract, and accept her resignation. The votes concerning Forsten's employment status were unanimous, 9-0.

The board also voted to hire Franklyn Bass to be interim superintendent, on a per diem basis. That vote was also unanimous.

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Bass will be paid $750 per diem, for 95 days, working Monday, Thursday, and Friday, for one year. He is certified to be a superintendent with The New Hampshire Department of Education through June 2022, something the board members checked before considering to hire him. Bass received his Bachelor's from UNH in 1974, Master's from Middlebury College in 1982, and Doctorate from Boston College in 1991. His past experience includes being a teacher, adjunct professor, and dean of academic affairs at Westford Academy in Massachusetts. He was principal at Hollis-Brookline High School in the mid-1990s, a superintendent in Pelham between 2007 to 2011, and a superintendent for the Dresden School District, a dual school district between Hanover and Norwich, Vermont, from 2011 to 2017.

Jennifer Patterson, the president of the school board, said the board would have information about the negotiation process with Forsten next week to explain to the public what occurred, within the parameters of the law, between Sept. 25 and Nov. 1.

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The board chose not to comment on the status of Tom Sica, the Concord High School principal who has been on leave since mid-June.

Forsten's Settlement

Between Sept. 25 and this week, the board worked to come to a settlement with Forsten to keep from having to have multiple hearings, appeals to the State Board of Education, or even the New Hampshire Supreme Court, if Forsten decided to take it that far, to fight the decision by the board to fire her.

After the meeting, Stephen Bennett of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters PLLC, said Forsten had a three-year contract with the district between July 2018 and the end of June 2021. Last year, Forsten was paid around $150,000. As part of the agreement to resign, she will be paid for the remainder of this year. Forsten's health care will also be covered for 18 months unless she finds new employment. She will be paid any accrued vacation time and the district will also make a contribution to her retirement fund this year, he said.

Community Members Respond

A number of members of the community responded with questions and comments about the decision.

Elizabeth "Betty" Hoadley, a former member of the board, complimented the board on their work, "behind the curtain," adding, "this is what I think, this community, was looking for."

Kate Frey-Goble, whose daughter, Ana, was suspended after raising concerns about Leung's behavior with girls at Rundlett Middle School back in 2014, asked if Bass would have access to the full investigative report and whether he would be taking action on it. Patterson said the question was unknown, at this time, depending on what actions were taken in the future. Frey-Goble countered though that the recommendations released earlier this week showed that there was "substantial maleficence" with some administrators still with the district and she feared that further action "would be swept under the rug, for another year." She called for action against "the layer below Sica and Forsten" that need to be dealt with.

"Absolutely, it is the board's intention to ensure that all potential personnel issues raised in the report are addressed," Patterson said.

Frey-Goble then asked about Palley's role and whether she would stay employed with the district. Patterson said when Bass came aboard, he would be relieving Palley of the superintendent's duties.

"We want to make sure, he coordinates with the current administrative team, at the central office," said Chuck Crush, a District C board member, "to make sure that everything is functioning at the schools."

Tom Croteau, a District A board member, said it wasn't the board's role to oversee the day-to-day operations of the district although they were now more involved than ever before. He said they were trying to find people to put in place to move forward.

Frey-Goble countered she was concerned that they were relying administrators who "had not been honest with you or the public" and they were being kept in their employment.

"I don't think you'll ever find any one of us, sitting right here, right now, sleeping at the wheel again," Croteau offered.

Frey-Goble asked about Sica's status and Patterson said she had no new information but added that he was not involved in any way with the school system. When Patterson said she hoped to have more information next week, Frey-Goble said it was "unacceptable" that Sica was continuing to be paid, was allowed to work, and possibly colluded with high school staffers, "though we don't know," to impede the investigation.

Max Schultz, a candidate for the District B seat next week, commended the board for its decision in dismissing Forsten as "a good move" and "an important step toward transparency." He added though that Bass should be allowed to see the entire report, so there is an outside person to figure out what was going on "with this crisis," from the outside looking in.

"I would encourage you to take that next step and not handcuff this new person, who is coming into a tumultuous situation," he said.

Dellie Champagne said the decision to fire Forsten was something the community needed, to start to heal. The public, she said, should be told what Bass would be tasked with in his role.

Croteau said Bennett would be attempting to put together some questions and answers, for the public, to help them understand the process of reaching this point with Forsten, and why it took a number of weeks after they viewed the internal investigation. Crush added everyone in the board room, on a Friday night, was there to do what was best for kids. Patterson said it was important for the board to take the next steps forward, too, especially with new policies and procedures.

Frey-Goble said the list would be a good idea since the public didn't understand the process or what was going on or why Sica was still being paid by the district when there was "clear maleficence."

Patterson agreed, as did other board members, in transparency and better explanations for the public in the future.

Pam Wicks, a District C board member who is up for re-election next week, said it was hard to hear some of the criticism from the public about not caring about students and the schools when she and others volunteered a lot of time and rearranged their schedules to contribute to the process.

"I take it very seriously," she said. "I'm feeling the pressure more than other people on the board right now as we come upon Tuesday."

"There is a sweet spot there, I just think we haven't found it," said Frey-Goble. "I was struck, when it was said last night, 'Now the community needs to come together and work to heal' but we've been here all summer ... there is a feeling that we're not being heard."

David Parker, another District B candidate, said there was a lot of information the public wanted and it should be prioritized by the board. School staff also shouldn't be left out of the process of communicating with the board. The board should be listening to staff as well as administrators, he said.

Quentin Goble said the board seemed to be forgetting that a teacher was accused of raping a teenage girl and a friend of that victim, his daughter, Ana, was targeted by the administration for raising concerns. He suggested board members go home and speak to their teens or preteens about what it would be like to be suspended, for doing the right thing, because that's what happened to his daughter.

"I'm sorry that we have to rearrange schedules," he said. "But let's go to the heart of this ... I want transparency. Because I'm finding out things like, two years before my daughter tried to report, a mom tried to report and she was written up by Tom Sica as being overprotective. How many more warnings did this guy need?"

Patterson thanked Goble and said she and the board were very grateful for Ana for her courage because they needed to know what the family went through and the community needed to know, too.

Public Statement By The Board

After the meeting, the board released the following public statement:

The Concord School Board has accepted the resignation of Superintendent Forsten. Ms. Forsten’s agreement to resign resolves the issues related to her multi-year contract and the expedited resolution of these matters is in the best interests of the Concord School District and its students.
The timing is such that the board is able to begin its superintendent search at the beginning of the hiring season, when it will have the broadest pool of qualified individuals from which to select. Bringing new leadership into the district is a first step in regaining the trust and support of the community. Had Ms. Forsten exercised her statutory and contractual rights, she would have remained on administrative leave with pay and the ensuing due process hearings and appeals would have stalled the ability of the district to move forward for a year or longer. Other major projects, which have been placed on hold will now be able to move forward.
Superintendent Forsten acknowledges that the community has lost faith in the ability of the district to provide a safe and secure educational environment. She understands her stepping aside will allow the district to begin the process of regaining the community’s trust. The board recognizes that Superintendent Forsten was not superintendent in 2014 and 2015 when Mr. Leung’s misconduct began and acknowledges that she was unaware of previous concerns regarding Mr. Leung when the 2018 incident occurred.
In turn, the board only learned of the nature and extent of Mr. Leung’s misconduct after the Concord Police Department’s investigation this past spring. It then authorized an independent investigation to discover how Mr. Leung’s conduct could have occurred, why that misconduct was not promptly discovered, and why Mr. Leung was not immediately removed from the classroom. The district has received a comprehensive and thorough report which has enabled it to begin to address the reasons why Mr. Leung remained in the classroom after his misconduct was initially reported.
The board is deeply committed and unified around its desire to ensure that all students are educated in a safe and secure environment and that the district earns back the trust of the community in its ability to protect every child in its care. As the policymaking body for the district, the board is reviewing all of its safety-oriented policies, intends to amend existing policies or enact new policies, as necessary, and will provide training to students and staff to increase the likelihood that misconduct by staff is properly identified, promptly reported to administration, investigations are timely, and offenders are immediately removed from the school setting.
We are grateful to the community for its assistance in this process and its patience as we work through these difficult issues.

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