No Charges Against Beaver Meadow School Principal

The Concord Police Department has concluded its criminal investigation into whether or not a local elementary school principal acted inappropriately with a special education student earlier last month.

According to Lt. Timothy O’Malley, the commander of the criminal investigations unit for the Concord Police Department, the incident occurred during the week of April 6, involving Principal John Forrest and a special education student that he had to deal with that was having an outburst. The interaction became physical, according to O’Malley, and the parents of the child reported the incident to school officials and pulled their child out of the school.

Police investigators received the incident information on April 13 and looked into the matter.

“We interviewed staff,” O’Malley said. “We gathered all our evidence and presented our case to the prosecutor. The prosecutor chose not to support a criminal charge.”

O’Malley added that the department’s investigation was concluded and the criminal case closed.

Chris Rath, the superintendent of schools for the Concord School District, said while the police department has concluded its investigation, the district “conducts its own investigation, separate from the police department, as we have different policies and standards.” Forrest, at this time, she said, is on paid administrative leave.

“We have a personnel action pending but we cannot provide any more information at this time,” she said. “We hope to conclude our process within two weeks.”

Forrest has been the principal at the school since 2009.