A change at the top seems necessary to show that Stonington schools have turned the page.

Despite its finding of no coverup, the results of an attorney's investigation into the administration's handling of sexual harassment allegations against a former high school teacher and coach do not alter our conclusion that Superintendent Van Riley no longer has the confidence of parents, students and teachers that is necessary to effectively lead.

The investigator, confirming The Day's reporting, found that the teacher, Timothy Chokas, “did engage in a number of inappropriate behaviors with female students at Stonington High School over a long period of time.”

“The descriptions of Chokas's conduct, from students and graduates from 2005 to 2020, are quite consistent,” wrote the attorney, Christine Chinni, in her report.

So why wasn't this conduct documented and action taken long before 2019, when Chokas was finally asked to leave? Chinni's explanation is that the superintendent and those in his office did not know.

Former female students who told the investigator that they were improperly and repeatedly touched by Chokas said at the time it happened they did not know how to file a complaint or to whom. Others told the investigator that the behavior was so well known among students that they concluded it had to be known by the teachers and administrators as well, but no one had seen fit to stop it.

This alone is condemnatory. The investigator's report documents an administration that had not adequately prepared students for what to do should an adult in the school system act inappropriately toward them. And it was clueless — or so the investigator's conclusions would lead us to believe — about the extensive problem it had on its hands.

Riley has been superintendent since 2012.

The investigation found that the administration only documented two complaints of misconduct. In 2017, when several girls complained about

Chokas touching them in class and golf practice and making sexually suggestive comments. Then in 2019 when a student came forward with allegations that Chokas deliberately, and on more than one occasion, bumped up against her back in class or placed his knee on her thigh. The student also contended he told the class: “If you have a problem with me, come to me. Don't go to the administration.”

It was the 2019 complaint that led to Chokas leaving the school system, where the matter may have ended if not for the dogged reporting of Day Staff Writer Joe Wojtas documenting the long history of misconduct.

“The is no evidence that school administrators knew of Chokas' misconduct before 2017,” states Chinni in her report.

Excuse us if we are a bit incredulous — given the nature of school systems and how teachers and administrators share what they hear — that Chokas' conduct over many years was, until 2017, known only to the young victims who found his touchy-feely approach creepy. The investigation came up short in that key students and colleagues of Chokas were never interviewed.

But the findings, as incomplete as we suspect they are, are still not flattering to the administration.

A coverup would have involved evidence of teachers and/or administrators knowing about the misconduct and working to keep that information quiet. Chinni said she did not find that. Perhaps she's right. Or perhaps she did not dig deep. But one envisions the catchphrase of the character Sergeant Schultz of the 1960s' TV comedy Hogan's Heroes, “I see nothing! I hear nothing! I know nothing!”

The report also cites this “they did not know” finding as the reason the decision not to fire Chokas in 2019 was legally the right one. He instead was allowed to walk with his salary and benefits paid through the end of the school year.

The superintendent, after discussions with the school system's attorney, concluded “the evidence of Chokas's inappropriate touching of students in 2017 and 2019 … was not sufficient to sustain Chokas's termination under the Tenure Act.” Chinni writes that she concurs with that decision.

The harshest criticism is reserved for high school Principal Mark Friese, who has directed the school since 2014. Friese, according to the investigator, should have treated the 2017 complaints as a matter of sexual harassment and a potential Title IX violation and removed Chokas as the girls' assistant golf coach. Neither head golf Coach Art Howe nor Athletic Director Bryan Morrone were told of the complaints, but should have been, the investigation concludes.

The good news is that the right procedures to handle complaints are now in place and students better informed, Chinni concludes in her report. But a change at the top appears necessary to send the message that Stonington has turned a page.