WATERVILLE — The Waterville Board of Education will hear a plan from top administrators Wednesday on how to fill the high school principal and assistant principal positions through the end of the school year.
Superintendent Eric Haley and Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot have been working on a proposal since principal Don Reiter was fired Nov. 16 and plan to present it to the board Wednesday.
The 5 p.m. meeting will be in the media center at the high school and will follow an annual open house for staff of Waterville schools from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, the police chief in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, said he is waiting to get the Waterville Police Department report on its investigation of Reiter before looking into allegations against Reiter there.
Haley said Monday that discussion about who will fill the high school’s top slots will be held in executive session, but the board is expected to emerge from that session and vote on the plan.
Assistant Principal Brian Laramee has been acting principal since Sept. 1, when Reiter was put on leave, and retired high school assistant principal Paul Pooler has been interim assistant principal since mid-September, according to Haley.
The School Board voted 6-1 Nov. 16 to dismiss Reiter for inappropriate conduct with a student — namely, asking an 18-year-old female student for sex in his office Aug. 27. The board’s vote followed more than 12 hours of testimony over three days with the meetings held mostly in executive session.
After Haley put Reiter on paid leave, he and Thiboutot launched an in-house investigation. Haley later recommended to the board Reiter be dismissed from his job. Reiter earned about $102,000 a year.
Reiter’s lawyer, Gregg Frame, said in an email Monday, “Don has not made a decision yet on whether to appeal” his dismissal.
Reiter has 30 days from the time of the decision to appeal to Kennebec County Superior Court, according to Frame.
POLICE INVESTIGATION
Days before Reiter’s dismissal, allegations surfaced that he also had inappropriate relationships with students at Mascenic High School in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, where he worked from 1998 to 2004.
New Ipswich police Chief Tim Carpenter said Monday in a telephone interview that his department has not yet launched an investigation. Police are waiting for Waterville police Detective Sgt. Bill Bonney’s report to be forwarded to them before proceeding, Carpenter said.
“Once we receive it, we’ll review it and see what direction we’ll go in,” he said. “I’m on their timetable at this point.”
When allegations were first made against Reiter, Waterville police conducted a separate investigation and forwarded a report in early October to Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney. She announced Nov. 19 that her office, in conjunction with police, was charging Reiter with official oppression in connection to the Waterville case, which seeks to hold public officials accountable for misuse of office.
Waterville police Nov. 12 re-opened their investigation after two former students from New Hampshire reported Reiter engaged in inappropriate relationships with them in New Ipswich.
Bonney traveled to New Hampshire and interviewed the former students after hearing of the allegations Nov. 12.
According to police, one student said she had sex with Reiter just before or after she graduated from that school and another said she had a romantic relationship with him. She produced 147 pages of letters in which Reiter referenced their “taboo” relationship, according to police.
Carpenter, who has been police chief in New Ipswich since 2003, only overlapped with Reiter’s time there for a year. During that time, Carpenter never received any complaints about Reiter, he said.
“I only dealt with him on a professional level,” he said.
Carpenter said he also has not received any local complaints about Reiter’s former conduct in the New Ipswich school since people in that town have become well aware of Waterville’s case.
“It’s been all around, in our local newspaper, and it’s been all over local Facebook pages,” he said. “There has been not one person who has said anything about it.”
Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey said while Waterville police determined the New Hampshire allegations did not tie in to what Waterville police investigated, the department will forward its report to both Maloney and New Ipswich police.
NO TEACHER PROBE
Many Waterville Senior High School staff initially supported Reiter, giving him a standing ovation Nov. 11 as he entered the hearing room at George J. Mitchell School the second night of his hearing.
Some also said they were angry at Haley for recommending Reiter be dismissed, saying he was a good principal with an unblemished record and they did not believe Reiter was capable of doing what he was alleged to have done.
After learning of the New Hampshire allegations, many who supported Reiter were surprised and hurt and felt betrayed, according to Haley.
In interviews after the school board’s decision, board member Pamela Trinward said she was disappointed that some school staff had released information about the student.
Haley said he could not confirm that staff did that.
“I don’t know that any teachers have released information,” he said Monday. “I know that’s what Pam said, but I don’t personally know that. Would I pull in a staff member if I had evidence they were violating FERPA (Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act)? Absolutely, but I don’t have any evidence.”
He said some teachers were upset by Trinward’s remarks.
Haley said he reinforced with staff that, even if information about a student is common knowledge and people are talking about it, it violates federal and state rules for school staff to participate in those discussions.
If someone who is not a school employee discusses such a case, it is not a violation of FERPA, but if a school employee discusses it or even contributes to the discussion by verifying information, it is a violation, Haley told staff.
Haley met with students and staff after the school board fired Reiter to begin the healing process, and they talked about those feelings. He said he assured those who thought Haley might be angry with them that he holds no grudges, that he understands loyalty and that loyalty can be a good thing.
Haley and Thiboutot again met with school staff a week before Thanksgiving to talk about what had transpired in the Reiter case, and feelings at the meeting ranged from anger to disbelief to frustration, he said. The meeting lasted about two hours.
“There was a lot of hugging, a lot of crying,” Haley said.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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