BOE to meet in private today on Chokas
Unclear what issue involving Stonington teacher will be discussed
Stonington — The Board of Education has scheduled a closed-door meeting Wednesday night to discuss “attorney-client privileged communication concerning the Chokas matter.”
In January, veteran Stonington High School teacher Timothy Chokas resigned after a student complained that he had inappropriately touched another female student. School officials agreed to pay Chokas the remaining $81,396 of his salary, as well as his health insurance premiums through June, not fire him and not disclose any information concerning his employment to anyone, except as required by law.
Subsequent reporting by The Day revealed numerous female students had complained about Chokas touching them and other students dating back to at least 2013. Superintendent of Schools Van Riley and high school Principal Mark Friese have refused to say if they ever reported these allegations to police or the state Department of Children and Families, which they are required to do under state law if they reasonably believe a student has been the victim of abuse.
In response to two Freedom of Information Act requests from The Day, school officials said there were no complaints or disciplinary actions in Chokas’ personnel file, despite statements from female students that they had complained and the school system’s own emails discussing complaints against Chokas and actions officials took to force him to address his behavior.
The withholding of the complaints
and disciplinary actions from The Day is the subject of a pending state Freedom of Information Act complaint from the newspaper. A hearing on the complaint is scheduled for Oct. 25 in Hartford.
Meanwhile, the state Office of the Child Advocate is conducting a review of the school system’s actions, which it became aware of from The Day’s reporting on the Chokas issue. Child Advocate Sarah Eagan said Tuesday that her review is continuing. She said she “anticipates scheduling meetings with Stonington officials soon and then a final report will follow.”
It is unclear what issue involving Chokas the school board plans to discuss in the executive session that is slated to begin at 7 p.m. in the Stonington High school Commons. Board Chairwoman Alexa Garvey did not return a phone call Tuesday about the meeting.
At last Thursday’s school board meeting, Democrat Jack Morehouse became the second on the seven-member board to publicly raise questions about how school officials have handled the Chokas matter.
Morehouse said that as a board member, and more importantly as a father of three daughters who have attended the high school, students must be made to feel comfortable in their classes. He added the questions surrounding the handling of the Chokas matter are casting a negative light on the good work being done at the school.
He said it was important to him to have some basic questions answered about what occurred. He said he would be forwarding those questions to Garvey. After the meeting, Morehouse declined to list the questions, saying he first wanted to submit them to Garvey. Such communications between board members are considered public documents and subject to be released under Freedom of Information law. Morehouse could not be reached for comment Tuesday to determine whether he had submitted the questions.
Until Morehouse’s request for answers, only board member Alisa Morrison had criticized the school system’s handling of the Chokas matter, which some board members have said they were not aware of until they read The Day’s reporting.
This summer, Morrison called for an independent investigation of how the matter was handled and recommended Riley, Friese and high school Director of Guidance Margo Crowley all be suspended while the probe took place to ensure they were not part of the picture as an investigation was underway. No other board members supported her call.
In addition, Stonington education union President Mike Freeman has not responded to a recent email from The Day asking if any of the teachers and other staff members in his union ever brought complaints about Chokas to Riley or Friese or if they ever reported concerns about Chokas to police or DCF.