A complaint by a parent about a teacher at one of Concord’s elementary schools has reached the point where the staff member filed for a restraining order and police were called to the District’s central office last week when a group arrived, upset about the matter.

The Christa McAuliffe School teacher, Silas Allard, filed a restraining order against the parent, Michael Guglielmo in Concord District Court Feb. 13, saying Guglielmo had been “intimidating,” “aggressive” and “homophobic,” toward him during interactions outside Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, when Allard was on dismissal duty and Guglielmo was picking up his child. Allard wrote that Guglielmo exited the car on two separate occasions to take photos of him.

“This man has an issue with me occasionally wearing ‘girly’ clothes to work,” Allard wrote in the court documents. “He has called and harassed my school and superintendent’s office, saying homophobic things about me and demanding I change my attire.”

Guglielmo, previously of Belmont, served years in prison after he was convicted of multiple counts of attempted murder for a shootout and standoff with a SWAT team in Manchester. He was 23 years old at the time. He was also well known for urging others to join a bone marrow registry after his son was born with a genetic immune deficiency in 2007. The son died in 2012. 

The restraining order was withdrawn on Thursday, Feb. 16. The following day, Guglielmo and a group of his supporters – some of whom live outside of Concord – showed up unexpectedly at the district offices to demand a meeting with Superintendent Kathleen Murphy. They were seeking to follow up on Guglielmo’s complaint about Allard’s clothing choices that he brought up at a School Board meeting nine days prior.

Alarmed school district employees summoned police on Friday by pressing an emergency alert button, according to Concord Deputy Police Chief John Thomas.

“[District staff] got concerned because it looked like the eight of them came into the building, they thought it was only going to be one person,” Thomas said. “They called, we showed up. It was calm and controlled, people were trying to voice their opinions. Our officers reported back that everything was peaceful and controlled.”

Concord Superintendent Kathleen Murphy met with the group at the District Offices Friday. A video of the meeting was posted on YouTube. 

Guglielmo said Allard was “antagonizing” him by staring at him with crossed arms or by singing and dancing during dismissal time and argued the teacher should not be working in the district.

Murphy said Wednesday that when disputes arise between parents and teachers, the district’s practice is typically to have the parent try to resolve the issue by meeting directly with the teacher, but if that doesn’t resolve the issue, the next step is to meet with the school principal. If a parent has a concern related to a particular area, such as special education or Title IX, they may meet with the district administrator in charge of that area. If the situation still isn’t resolved, the final step is to meet with the superintendent, but if they aren’t satisfied with the superintendent’s decision they can go to the School Board.

“I meet with parents when they still need to hear a voice,” Murphy said. “Sometimes they don’t go through the protocols and they want to meet with me right away, we try to accommodate that whenever possible. We’ve done that, it’s a pretty established practice for people to get answers. I recognize that in the world we live in, not everyone agrees with everything, so we try to find some compromise.”

Thomas said Concord Police have stopped by Christa McAuliffe School around arrival and dismissal time several times in recent weeks to do “walk and talks” and be present to allay any concerns.

“We told the school district we’d keep an eye on Christa McAuliffe, because there were concerns,” Thomas explained.

The dispute is expected to come up again at the next Concord School Board meeting on March 6.

Board members sent out a statement Thursday night in support of its staff and Concord families.

It states, “The Concord School Board reaffirms our commitment to our district’s families, mission and strategic plan priorities, which includes our vision to improve inclusiveness, uplift the voices of historically marginalized people in the Concord school community, and create an environment that encourages personal exploration and growth.”

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