School Superintendent Terri Forsten’s latest letter to staff sounds like a desperate attempt to save her job.
Initially, Forsten “knew best” about how to handle a scandal, so she dismissed the media coverage of the Howie Leung sex scandal and showed she does not respect the community members who place their trust in the district by sending their children to Concord public schools.
Forsten would have been smarter to take seriously the recent complaints about Leung and suspend him immediately rather than wait for 3½ months, until Massachusetts took action regarding the charges in their state.
If Forsten took no action on Leung because Concord High School Principal Tom Sica had assured her that “Howie” was a great guy and that complaints about his pal – before and during Forsten’s tenure – were unfounded, she should be fired for poor judgment. The same is true of Sica, who not only suspended a girl for reporting her legitimate concerns about Leung before Forsten’s arrival, but also brought Leung with him from Rundlett Middle School to Concord High School.
DALE VINCENT
Concord