School board member urges probe in case of former teacher

Special meeting will be held in Stonington

Stonington — School board member Alisa Morrison called upon her fellow board members Sunday to launch an independent investigation into how the school system has handled the controversy involving former high school teacher Timothy Chokas.

In addition, Morrison suggested the school system suspend with pay high school Principal Mark Friese and Director of Guidance Margo Crowley and perhaps Superintendent of Schools Van Riley while the probe is going on to ensure they are “not part of the picture” as an investigation is underway.

After The Day published a story last month about how the school system handled the allegations against Chokas, Morrison unsuccessfully called on the board to hold a meeting to discuss the policies that are in place to protect children, whether they were followed in the case of Chokas or need to be updated, and how such complaints are handled by school administrators.

Morrison renewed her call for a meeting Sunday after The Day published a story about how the school system had received complaints as far back as 2013 that Chokas patted female soccer players at the high school on the buttocks and how school officials withheld documents showing complaints about Chokas and disciplinary action taken against him that the newspaper requested in January and April.

On Sunday night, about 12 hours after again telling Morrison she was not in favor of holding a meeting, board Chairwoman Alexa Garvey announced that all board members are in favor of scheduling a meeting and looking to hold it the week of Aug. 5.

“I am very disappointed in the actions of the BOE regarding this matter,” Morrison wrote in a Sunday email to Garvey before learning Sunday night the meeting would take place. “Our inaction, despite being wrong, does not foster any confidence in us as a whole from the community.”

Morrison said Sunday that board bylaws allow three members to force a meeting and said she thought two others may support her effort.

The Day on Sunday left phone messages with all six of the other six board members — Garvey, Craig Esposito, Jack Morehouse, Candace Anderson, Deborah Downey and Farouk Rajab — asking for comment about Morrison’s efforts.

Only Anderson and then Garvey responded, with Anderson saying by email Sunday night that she supported Morrison’s call for a meeting.

“The request was for a special meeting with an executive session in order to meet with our attorney. Per my understanding, the purpose would be to discuss the situation as a board and to educate ourselves about the (Office of the Child Advocate) process, future report and potential recommendations, so that we would be able to respond in a most effective and timely manner once the report is in hand,” Anderson wrote.

In an email to Morrison earlier Sunday, Garvey had said she preferred to wait to hold a meeting until state Child Advocate Sarah Eagan completes her office’s review of the Chokas matter. Eagan told The Day last week that she had requested documents from the school system and that the review was in its beginning stages. She could not say when the review would be complete because she may need to request additional information and interview school officials. Eagan began her review after reading The Day’s reporting on the issue last month.

“Once we receive the Office of Child Advocate report, I have always agreed that we need this type of meeting. I agree we need a meeting and executive session with the lawyer for legal advice. These are the meetings I want to hold once we have the detailed (Child Advocate) review and then again a special meeting for the community to add input to the process,” Garvey wrote.

She added that such a meeting “will be more productive once we have the report.”

Garvey also revealed that Eagan’s office had subpoenaed documents from the school system.

But Morrison told Garvey she strongly disagreed with waiting to hold a meeting.

“We have no need to wait for the report in order to hear what is going on with this investigation and steps we should be taking. Why wait? We can meet again once the report is out,” she wrote.

Morrison added, “We have discussed communication issues on several occasions and I feel this is another pretty good example on when we have been kept in the dark.”

Morrison said various aspect of the complaints and how they were handled were never shared with board members.

“I feel like we’ve been kept in the dark about what happened,” she said later Sunday.

More than 25 female students dating back to 2004 have told The Day that Chokas repeatedly touched them and other classmates, making them feel uncomfortable. Girls filed complaints with school officials including Friese and Crowley in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2019. With the exception of the January 2019 complaint that led to Chokas’ resignation, it is unknown whether the school system ever reported any of the other complaints received about Chokas to the state Department of Children and Families or police. The state’s mandatory reporting law requires school officials and employees to report to DCF or police within 24 hours if they have “reasonable cause to suspect” that a child under 18 has been the victim of abuse.

Riley repeatedly has refused to say whether the school system reported those other incidents to DCF or police, saying school officials had investigated every concern, acted appropriately and followed all procedures.

But students and their parents who made the 2017 complaints to Friese and Crowley say they were never interviewed by DCF or local police, which is what typically occurs when a report is made. DCF does not discuss or confirm whether it receives a complaint.

The complaints include that Chokas, who also served as the girls’ assistant golf coach, allegedly placed his legs on girls’ laps, touched their backs and thighs, massaged shoulders, leaned up against them, tickled them and struck one girl in the buttocks with a cane he was using. The alleged touching took place in his classroom, an adjacent photo darkroom and at golf practice. Those who have spoken to The Day say the touching was pervasive and occurred daily.

Chokas, a technology and media teacher who was hired in 2003, resigned in January after school officials received a complaint that he had inappropriate contact with a female student.

School officials signed a confidential settlement agreement that paid him his $81,396 salary and health insurance through June 30. They also agreed not to fire Chokas and not disclose any information concerning his employment or separation from his position to anyone at any time, except as required by law. Chokas also agreed not to take legal action against the school system.