Montville slapboxing case pushed back again
Continuance gives attorneys time to review videos they just received
Norwich — Attorneys on Wednesday agreed to continue for another month the cases against three Montville school administrators and a substitute teacher facing charges in connection to classroom fighting last fall.
Superintendent Brian Levesque, high school Principal Jeffrey Theodoss, Assistant Principal Tatiana Patten and former substitute teacher Ryan Fish were scheduled to appear in Norwich Superior Court on Wednesday morning. Instead, prosecutors met with administrators’ and Fish’s lawyers and turned over evidence requested by defense attorneys earlier this year, including copies of student-recorded cellphone videos of slapboxing bouts in Fish’s class.
Levesque fired Fish last October four days after videos of a classroom fight made their way to the superintendent’s email inbox. Fish, accused of supervising four slapboxing matches last fall, pleaded not guilty in May to several counts of reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor. Levesque, Theodoss and Patten pleaded not guilty to failing to report suspected abuse according to the state’s mandated reporter law.
The cases were pushed until Sept. 25, according to Patten’s attorney Dado Coric, Fish’s attorney Paul Chinigo and Theodoss.
“They turned over some additional discovery and we had some meaningful discussion” with Norwich prosecutor Christa Baker, Coric said in an interview. He noted the continuance gives attorneys time to review the videos.
Coric said he and the other attorneys may have seen snippets of fight videos that students had posted on social media and some news outlets released this spring, but copies of
the videos were “literally just handed to us today.”
The administrators’ attorneys argue the cases should be dismissed, noting no student was severely injured in the fights, Fish was promptly fired and students involved were disciplined. State police and the Department of Children and Families say the administrators should have reported the classroom fighting to authorities.
The cases have seen multiple continuances since Fish’s and the administrators’ arrests in April. Attorneys noted Baker, the prosecutor handling the case, had been working on a murder trial in New London earlier this year. A message left with Baker was not immediately responded to Wednesday afternoon.
Fish and the administrators say they cannot comment on the record on the pending cases. Their arrests stemmed from investigations by DCF and the state’s attorney’s office after a student in December told a DCF social worker he’d been beaten up at the high school.
Theodoss, who planned on retiring in December, announced a few weeks ago that he would retire at the end of August.
On Wednesday, he said retiring was the best way to give stability to students, teachers and staff heading into the new school year instead of waiting for a potential resolution in the case.
Theodoss could have remained on leave at his full salary at more than $150,000; instead he received a retirement incentive the school district recently offered to administrators and teachers: $25,000 paid out over two years, according to acting Superintendent Laurie Pallin.
Levesque and Patten remain on paid leave. School officials say Levesque is in the second year of a three-year contract with a salary of $178,231. Patten’s salary is $129,666.
The Board of Education recently named former Palmer Academy Principal Heather Sangermano as principal of the high school. The school board also is seeking candidates for a newly created assistant principal position to serve as top administrator for the Palmer Academy, which offers project-based learning, internships and special education services.