The leader of the Sununu Youth Services Center resigned a day after a legislative committee investigating potentially improper restraint and seclusion practices at the facility called for new leadership and oversight.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte announced the resignation of Bureau Chief Joshua Nye following an Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.
“I’ve just learned from the commissioner of Health and Human Services that the head of that facility has submitted his resignation,” Ayotte said during a press conference.
“We’ll have to find a good leader to obviously have that role; it’s a very important role,” she added.
The facility had been under scrutiny since late March, when the Office of the Child Advocate reported concerns about the use of physical restraints on children, a weeks-long restriction on the children’s movement, and limited educational instruction. The Disability Rights Center also raised concerns.
The ad-hoc legislative committee formed to investigate the allegations had been expected to recommend a new leader when it released its report on Friday.
“There’s an extreme failure of the facility that falls squarely on the Bureau Chief,” states a draft of the report, which was reviewed on Tuesday.
Nye had served as the bureau chief of the facility since late January. He had been absent from work since at least May 7, according to an automated message received last week in response to a request for comment.
A call made to a personal number for Nye was not immediately returned on Wednesday. An attorney for Nye also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NHPR reported Tuesday that Nye’s attorney, Peter McGrath, said that his client was “a bit of a scapegoat.”
“There are two sides to every story,” McGrath told NHPR. “He’s highly talented and well respected. And he’s highly qualified. He’s only been there a short amount of time.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Nye resigned Wednesday, but did not respond to a question about who is currently in charge of the facility.
The legislative committee’s report is expected to include several recommendations, including the implementation of new training for staff, the installation of cameras with audio-recording capabilities in public areas of the facility and the overhaul of the incentive system for children.
The chair of the committee, Republican Sen. Victoria Sullivan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment following news of Nye’s resignation.
The committee was one of four bodies that launched investigations of the facility this spring. The other investigations, which are conducted by the attorney general, child advocate and Disability Rights Center, remain ongoing.
Ayotte said she was “hopeful” that the attorney general’s report “will be issued soon.”
