Nearly three months after Pembroke Academy’s dean of students was arrested at the school – and five weeks after the community learned of the charges – parents continued to confront school boards Tuesday with criticism of the district’s response.
In Pembroke, at the high school where Rekha Luther was accused of having heroin and steroids in her possession Feb. 17, a parent said the responsible officials exhibited “zero leadership” on the issue, before the chairman demanded that he sit down and stop talking.
“I’m not going to give you a reason,” Chairman Tom Serafin told parent David Pearl about why his comment was being interrupted. “I’ve asked you to sit down.”
In Epsom, school board members are drafting a letter to their Pembroke counterparts. In addition, the select board said they have received reports that families were moving out of town to avoid sending their children to Pembroke Academy, which also serves some surrounding towns.
A committee of school board members from Epsom, Chichester and Allenstown is considering whether students could be sent to a different high school.
At Pembroke Academy on Tuesday, parents said their school board didn’t respond when they sought to collaborate with school officials on a plan to create a drug awareness group in the community and regarding unanswered questions about whether the school was investigating Luther’s interactions with students and staff.
Superintendent Patty Sherman has said the school didn’t immediately inform parents about Luther’s arrest “because it is a personnel matter that under state and federal law the administration must keep confidential.” She first acknowledged the arrest in a letter sent home to parents April 4, two days after it was reported by the news media.
In the first of his two comments to the Pembroke board, Pearl said Sherman’s citation of state and federal laws was false. He demanded that the board send another letter to “tell the parents a mistake was made here, that this statement is not accurate.”
“I think by this part in the process, we all understand that there is no state or federal law that prohibits school administration from announcing the arrest of an adult or an employee,” he said.
Serafin said the board would take Pearl’s comments “under advisement” and offered no response to Pearl’s question as to whether the board had reviewed his assertion, which he also made at a previous meeting and in emails.
When Pearl returned for his second comment near the close of the Pembroke meeting, he said the school was missing an opportunity to build trust with its constituents “by admitting what happened at the school, by giving information, sharing information that they can share.”
“We have zero leadership about this issue, and, again, tonight, the irony. You’re an educational institution. I show you a mistake and instead of rushing to correct it, you’re putting up another wall. You’re waiting to take it under advisement, instead of researching, finding out the truth,” he said. “That’s why I say you’re not serving your community.”
A moment later, Serafin interrupted Pearl with an implication that the man’s comment was over.
“You’re speaking at the invitation of me,” the chairman said. “You do not have the right to speak.”
Another parent, Jeanne LaBarge, said she’s been unsuccessful in getting on the agenda to discuss a drug awareness group she’s forming among parents. She said although there were only a handful of parents in the audience, she knew far more who wished they could attend, if not for their work schedules.
“There is a trust thing, a trust issue going on, underlying all this. We can’t deny that,” she said.
Serafin said he had attempted to reach LaBarge by phone and hoped she would attend the community forum, which deals in part with substance misuse and is being held today at 6:30 p.m. at Pembroke Academy’s auditorium.
The focus of Epsom’s school board meeting Tuesday was similarly on transparency at Pembroke Academy – or lack thereof.
The controversy surrounding Luther, parent Joy Sheehan said, is a symptom of a larger issue.
“This incident just opened up more light on it. It’s about communication,” Sheehan said.
More than 30 parents of Pembroke Academy students and non-parent taxpayers squeezed in an overflowing Epsom Central School classroom and shared their concerns about not knowing what’s happening at the school – when there are lockdowns, for instance – and not knowing what’s happening with their tax dollars.
Epsom select board members were present, too, noting that residents had come to them with concerns that because of Pembroke Academy’s reputation in the community, families were trying to move out of town to be able to send their children to different school districts.
“This becomes a concern of the Board of Selectmen when we see young families leaving town and depriving Epsom of the type of residents that are willing to contribute to the betterment of the community,” Chairman Don Harty wrote in a letter to the Epsom school board. “They are the future of our town.”
School board members discussed a draft of a letter they wanted to send to the Pembroke school board and Pembroke Academy Headmaster Paul Famulari. In it, they asked for a chance to examine the high school’s communication policies.
While school board Chairman Dave Cummings said he felt the letter addressed the situation, some of his colleagues did not.
School board member Bill Yeaton said, “I wanted to go after them a little more . . . the lack of information that we couldn’t get.”
Cummings tried to point out that Epsom may not have to “go after” the school – Sherman and other Pembroke school officials may not object to discussing better communication policies.
“I don’t know if we want to create a fight where there isn’t one,” Cummings said. “I don’t know if we need a wrecking ball at this point.”
Others in the room said that something must be done about Pembroke Academy continuing to not address the drug charges.
Resident and parent Joe Nerricio said, “If they’re not telling us this – this is major. I think what we’re asking is that they step up.”
School board members decided to table their letter to Pembroke officials until May 26, when they would be meeting at an SAU-wide school board meeting at 6 p.m. at Epsom Central School.
In the meantime, the school board its their newly formed joint Area Agreement Committee. The committee, which includes Chichester, Allenstown and Pembroke school board members, will begin meeting in a week to examine whether Epsom students can choose which high school they go to.
Currently, they can attend Pembroke Academy or pay tuition to other schools, like Coe-Brown Academy.
Some residents said they liked the potential for their kids having a choice, though understood that all schools have their issues, and not just Pembroke Academy.
Others, like Selectman Chris Bowes, felt like it was necessary to have alternatives.
“There is no way in . . . whatever we’re sending our kids to that school,” he said.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.comor on Twitter at @NickBReid. Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)