Parents To Concord School Board: Fire Assistant Superintendent

CONCORD, NH — A number of residents came to the monthly Concord School Board meeting to show their support for changes in the district's administrative staffing – including the removal of the assistant superintendent for not being properly credentialed for many years. About half a dozen people held signs outside of the Mill Brook School Monday, calling on Donna Palley, the assistant school superintendent who was found to not be credentialed for the last eight years, to resign or be fired. The protestors also called for the release of an internal investigation into the district's handling of the Primo "Howie" Leung teacher-student rape case.

Unlike last month, when the board asked community members to wait and speak at the end of the meeting, Board President Jennifer Patterson suspended the rules to take public comment at both the beginning and end of the meeting.

About 70 community members attended the meeting and after updates about the internal investigation, staff credentialing issues, and an explanation from Stephen Bennett of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters PLLC, on why personnel issues in the district are often shielded from the public and the press (see second story here), a number of them spoke about their concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability in the district.

Max Schultz, a board of education candidate in District B (Wards 5, 6, and 7), said while he understood the personnel issues with the investigation and the district, board members should consider hiring an outside agency for a performance audit of the administration.

"You really need to take a look at, not just the how and why, but how to prevent this from happening," he said. "It seems like there's just a series of training things that just keep coming. It's a systemic problem. If you have a performance audit, maybe you can take some measures to try and prevent this in the future."

Debra Harris thanked members for being on the board and asked whether or not a compliance officer would be hired for the district, which had been rumored. Patterson said she wasn't familiar with an agreement to hire such a person. Harris also called for a biannual audit of the district to ensure compliance with the law.

Darlene Gildersleeve, a Hopkinton resident and founder of the Protect Concord Students Now group, called on the board to release the internal investigation report to the Concord Police Department and the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, calling it a public document, funded by taxpayer dollars, due to the possibility of criminal accusations in the report. The report should then be redacted to protect the identities of children, she said, and released to the public. Gildersleeve added that there were many other special education issues in the district and it was using thousands of dollars to fight parents and an audit was needed of all services in the district.

Gildersleeve also called on the district to ensure that employees were credentialed and called on Palley to "do the right thing" and resign her position and if she didn't, the board should fire her immediately.

"It's unacceptable that eight years have gone by and somebody that was in charge of supervising other's credentials themselves did not have a credential," she said. "It's totally unacceptable."

After being told that her time had expired by Patterson, Gildersleeve turned to Palley and said, "Donna Palley, your time is up, too."

Andrea Golen, another parent, works as a veterinary technician and needs to be certified to work in her position. She said she had a conversation with Palley and asked if she would take her pet to a veterinary who was not credentialed and she reportedly stated, No. Why, she then asked, should my children be sent to a school district where officials aren't credentialed?

"It is no different," she said. "I can't work at my job, for eight years, and get paid $134,000 a year, without taking the proper time, to go to school, to learn to need to do my job properly … now is the time for you to resign."

Golen stated it was time to "drain the swamp" in the school district and also called on Jack Dunn, the district's business administration who has been in the position for more than seven years but was not credentialed, to resign.

Elizabeth Girard, another parent, raised the issue of communication from the district and wondered why, when an accused stalker, a former New England Patriots player, was arrested at Concord High School, parents were not told about the incident.

"That's a safety issue … why was it hidden? Don't we have the right to know if someone is being arrested on our campus?," she asked.

Girard also called it "absurd" that the district's human resources director, Larry Prince, did not know that employees were not credentialed or that the district was not following the law, including Palley's lack of credentials.

"The school board needs to fire these people, effective immediately," she said.

Girard added at former jobs in the private sector and nonprofits, everyone knew who was credentialed to work in specific positions and who wasn't and added that it was "baffling" that Prince didn't seem to know and that board members didn't know either for so many years. She also called for the board to release the report, unredacted, and that other cases might need the information.

David Parker of Parker Academy, who is also running for the District B board of education seat, said he appreciated the "different tenor" from the board, considering what happened at last month's meeting. He also apologized for his tenor at the September meeting. But, Parker added, board members needed to do more than just care about children, as public servants, and look beyond themselves.

"There's some systemic issues they you guys need to deal with," he said. "Historically, in the past 10 years, the board has been insular; the administration has been insular … not looking out there to see what's best practices are. We are better than this in Concord, New Hampshire."

Dan Habib, another parent, also thanked the board for its work but questioned the timeline on information being released and requested a detailed look at the information, without violating laws. He said a lot of people in the community were not going to be satisfied with a limited report that didn't explain what happened and who played a role in the incident.

"I have a very personal stake in this … my son was taught by Howie Leung for six years," he said. "I'm not looking for vengeance. I'm looking for accountability."

Habib said Leung caused "a devastating impact" on his students and that can't be lost on board members and the public needed to understand the answers.

Patterson said the board understood there was a need to have a conversation with the community about the report's details and added, "we will do what we can but we can't promise anything."

Habib also asked whether the detailed report would be given to police or the New Hampshire Department of Education and Patterson said the board was bound by legal constraints but its counsel was looking at what to do. Habib countered that it was concerning because he believed staff – and possibly even school board members – knew about the accusations against Leung last year and failed to act and that failure to act caused irreparable harm to students. He added that any board members who knew about the Leung case should recuse themselves from deciding whether the report should be released to investigators.

"I think there is an inherent conflict of interest if someone is being implicated in the report but (making a decision on its release)," Habib said.

"I don't know if we can answer that now but I think we will be able to in the future," Patterson said.

Another attendee named Brian stated student safety was of utmost importance and noted that predators often targeted the most vulnerable in the school community – students that won't be believed; students from broken homes; English as a second language learner students; etc.

"Those are the kids we really need to get this right for," he said. "We need to get this right for all kids … but some of them have far greater challenges than many of us in the room ever face."

Elizabeth Young, another parent, questioned the legality of keeping information from parents, while admitting that board members were in "a tough spot." She said she found out about the incident not from the school district but from press reports, on her phone, and then later, that Leung was her daughter's teacher, too. Young found it puzzling that administrators knew about Leung but now, after all that had occurred, parents weren't allowed to have the information.

"I know you have to move past this," Young stated, "but I think that we have a right to know. I think that you are being protected by an attorney because you are protecting somebody, or something, or some information that you don't want the public to know."

Karen Knowles, another Concord parent, also raised the issue of the attorney representing the board but not the public. She said the attorney could easily put together a third version of the report that provided answers to the community.

ALSO READ:

• Mom Accuses Concord Teacher Of Trying To Groom Daughter In 2011
• Concord School District To Conduct Full Staff Credentialing Audit
• Second Concord School Employee Found Not To Be Credentialed
• Credentialing Of Concord's Acting School Super Could Take Months
• Concord Police Chief Says He'd Like To See School Investigation
• Acting Concord School Superintendent Not Credentialed With NH DOE
• Concord Superintendent Forsten, Principal Sica Placed On Leave
• Concord Board Of Education Considering Personnel 'Next Steps'
• Concord Board Of Education Members Eyeing Investigative Report
• Parents, Students Vent About Issues With Concord School District
• Concord School Board To Update Public About Investigation Tuesday
• Concord School Superintendent: Letter To Staff 'A Serious Error'
• Petition To Remove Officials From Concord Schools Cracks 2,000
• Concord School Board Holds Emergency Meeting Sunday With Counsel
• 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
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