Attorney says she is making progress on Chokas investigation

Stonington — The attorney investigating how school officials handled the complaints against former high school teacher and coach Timothy Chokas has reported to the Board of Education that she is making progress in talking to students and parents.

Last week board members, concerned about the lack of progress in the probe, instructed attorney Chris Chinni to be more aggressive in her approach and try to contact current and former students. Up till then, Chinni said her direction from the board was to let students, parents, teachers and others contact her. That had resulted in her not hearing from any students.

This came despite many former

students telling The Day that Chokas repeatedly touched female students inappropriately and made inappropriate comments to them dating back to 2004. Many others have posted their complaints about Chokas and school officials on their Facebook and Instagram pages, the Stonington Community Forum Facebook group and comments on the numerous stories The Day has published about the controversy.

In a report she presented to the school board at its meeting Thursday night, Chinni outlined her progress since May 5.

She said she posted information about the investigation in the Stonington Community Forum group and wrote a letter that was sent to all Stonington High School students, staff and parents.

She said she also reached out to several individuals who have spoken at Board of Education meetings about the Chokas matter, been identified in the The Day’s reporting on the issue or have been actively posting comments on social media concerning Chokas, but up until Thursday none of these individuals had responded.

But she said the posting on the Stonington Community Forum quickly led to a number of contacts, by email and text messaging. Since May 8 she said she interviewed 10 individuals, mostly current or former students, but also some adults, using Zoom or FaceTime.

She said three current and/ or former female students stated concerns about Chokas’ treatment of female students in his classes, including themselves.

She said one former female student stated that she had heard from a number of friends about negative interactions with Chokas but had no direct experience herself. Two former female students of Chokas stated that they had never had any negative interactions with him.

She said one parent of several students said she had concerns about Chokas after hearing reports from her child and some other students, and had shared these concerns with the high school administration.

She said police department Youth Officer Thomas Paige “confirmed the high school administration consulted with him about incidents with Chokas in 2016-2017 and 2018-2019 school years and that he had informed the administration that neither matter constituted criminal conduct, but was rather a human resources issue.”

Chinni wrote that one of the female students who said she was the target of inappropriate behavior identified two other students who she believed also had experienced inappropriate interactions with Chokas. Chinni said those students planned to contact her once they have finished their college exams.

A parent of one of the student witnesses who had concerns about Chokas’ treatment of her “stated that she and her daughter were comfortable with our interview and they would urge others to come forward.”

Chinni also wrote that she has scheduled interviews with students and a father of students who attended the school system.

“I am continuing to reach out to individuals with relevant information via email, phone and social media. In addition, several witnesses interviewed have stated that they will refer additional witnesses to me for interviews,” Chinni wrote. “I expect additional community members (students, parents, adults) will continue to make themselves available for interviews. As is often the case in investigations into allegations of inappropriate conduct by an adult against minors, once a few witnesses come forward, others choose to participate.”

Chinni’s report did not indicate that any teachers had come forward and asked to speak with her. In her last report, she said she had planned to speak to teacher and golf coach Art Howe but his name was not mentioned in Thursday’s report.

Anyone with information about Chokas and how complaints were handled can contact Chinni at SPSinvestigation@chinniandmeuser. com or (860) 677-0255.

After listening to the report, board member Heidi Simmons said that for 14 years, the education of female students at the high school was impacted by Chokas and there were no policies or procedures or capable school administrators to assist them. She said the girls are owed an apology and if the administration can’t do it, then the board should.

“We as a board need to acknowledge their learning was compromised,” she said.

But other members, including Jack Morehouse, said the board should wait on any action until they have both Chinni’s report and one being done by the state Office of the Child Advocate, which is reviewing whether school officials followed district policies and procedures in dealing with complaints about Chokas.

“I’m sure the learning environment was compromised but I’m not sure to what extent,” Morehouse said.

“Our job is to get really good data, review it and make a decision,” he said, adding the board won’t have that until both reports are complete. “We can’t reach any type of judgement until that point.”

The numerous complaints against Chokas involve alleged inappropriate touching of and making inappropriate comments to female students. Those who have spoken to The Day say the touching was pervasive, occurred daily and dated back to 2004.

Superintendent Van Riley and Principal Mark Friese testified under oath that the various reports lodged against Chokas by students, referred to in school documents and emails in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 and from the girls themselves, were not considered complaints but “reports” and “concerns.” This meant complaints were not placed in Chokas’ personnel file and he was never disciplined.

A review of the policies and procedures by The Day in January shows administrators repeatedly failed to follow their own requirements when handling the numerous complaints against Chokas. That same month, school officials outlined a number of steps they had taken to update their sexual harassment policies and procedures in light of the controversy.

In January 2019, a female student complained to a staff member that Chokas was touching a female classmate and making inappropriate comments to her. That incident led to Chokas being allowed to resign with his full salary of $81,396 and benefits through the end of the school year. The district also agreed not to fire him or disclose any information concerning his employment to anyone, except as required by law.