Online Petition Launched To Have Concord School Officials Removed

CONCORD, NH — A change.org petition has been launched by a parents group in Concord calling for the removal of school officials in the wake of inaction and comments made about a number of incidents and issues in the district, including the Primo "Howie" Leung rape arrest and investigation. The group of parents, called CSD Advocates for Change, started the petition Friday after School Superintendent Terri Forsten offered critical comments of media coverage the district had been receiving by both a local newspaper and on social media. The group has also called for the ousting of Tom Sica, the Concord High School principal who targeted a girl who came forward years ago for discipline.

Sica is currently on paid personal leave. View the petition here.

"The Concord, NH community has been consistently and critically let down by CSD Administration," the petition stated. "We need a change in Leadership! There is a culture of assault in our District and it needs to STOP! The CSD has consistently demonstrated that it does not believe students who report serious and sometimes criminal activity. We, the undersigned, demand that the School Board take a vote of 'No Confidence' in Superintendent Terri Forsten at the September 3, 2019 meeting."

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As of 8 a.m. Saturday, 118 people had signed the petition.

Parents in the petition stated that they were angered by some of the facts of the incidents including the targeting of the student who came forward to report the unusual relationships Leung appeared to have with middle-school girls years ago; that Leung was allowed to stay on as a teacher during the investigating into whether or not he kissed a student in December 2018; the lack of reporting by the district of incidents to police and state officials; and a past sexual assault incident of a Deerfield student on a school bus in 2017, that has prompted a lawsuit against the district, as reported earlier this year by the Concord Monitor.

The last straw for some parents, it would appear, was Forsten's comments to district employees in a letter Thursday, where she criticized the Monitor and others for "a dribble of articles and posts that have presented singular perspectives and have negatively impacted some of the community's viewpoint of our schools and work," her refusal to respond to the media, and a request to move on.

"This is tone deaf and reflects a complete lack of appreciation for what these students have experienced," the petition said. "It similarly shows ignorance: one assault is too many and rarely is there just one. Rather then (sic) accepting responsibility, blame is being inappropriately deflected to the media and concerned parents. Leaders accept accountability. Failure to accept accountability reflects on a poor Leader. This district deserves strong, informed leadership."

Patch has reached out to school board members for comment about the petition.

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