|
|
New Milford Superintendent of Schools Dr. JeanAnn Paddyfote confirmed on Thursday that Mr. Bingham had been placed on paid administrative leave in November, but she said she could not comment further on the situation because the matter has not yet reached a conclusion.
Mr. Bigham, who lives in New Milford, did not return calls.
On March 6, Mr. Lewin filed an amended complaint with the state Freedom of Information Commission against the New Milford Board of Education (BOE) and Wendy Faulenbach, who serves as its chairman.
The complaint argues, among other items, that the agenda for the Feb. 13 BOE meeting where disciplinary action was approved in executive session specified only that the board was moving into executive session for a personnel matter-rather than, as is required by the Connecticut General Statutes, stating the name of the person the BOE intended to discuss.
"I can confirm that an FOI complaint has been filed," Ms. Faulenbach said Thursday. "The agenda did indeed state personnel matters. I do concede that the agenda for personnel matters under executive session could have been more specific."
"There was no vote in executive session," she noted.
Mr. Bigham, who is 56, joined the New Milford school district as a teacher at the John Pettibone Elementary School in 1973. There, he taught the fifth grade before moving to the Sarah Noble Intermediate School. For the 1986-87 academic year, he was named New Milford's Teacher of the Year.
According to Mr. Bigham's personnel file, which contains a number of letters of commendation from both parents and school administrators, Mr. Bigham was disciplined for inappropriate behavior in 2004. A letter to him dated May 21, 2004 from Dr. JeanAnn Paddyfote said that she was responding to a complaint from a parent of a student in his Sarah Noble.
In the letter, Dr. Paddyfote wrote, "It is my conclusion that you have engaged in inappropriate behaviors directed toward female students in your class and that such behaviors have caused the students discomfort."
In her letter, Dr. Paddyfote noted that the parent "complained that you, her daughter's fifth grade teacher, had been touching her daughter's hair, massaging her shoulders and moving his hands to her child's neck, and kicking her daughter on the buttocks."
The matter was referred to the state Department of Children and Families, and Dr. Paddyfote, who noted that she and then-Principal Beverly Regan had interviewed four students, wrote, "The findings of the Department of Children and Families corroborate my own findings, based upon my interviews, of the following behaviors: tapping female students on the buttocks with a book or rolled-up paper and kicking on the buttocks."
In her letter, Dr. Paddyfote informed Mr. Bigham that she was placing him on administrative leave for the remainder of that school year, ten of those days without pay. For the 2004-05 school year, she placed him on "Intensive Assistance and Support Status for Tenured Teachers." She notified him that he and Ms. Regan would meet before June 7 of that year to develop an improvement plan.
"You will not be re-appointed to the position of head girls' softball coach for the 2004-2005 school year," wrote Dr. Paddyfote, who also advised Mr. Bingham in her letter to get counseling.
Mr. Bigham is the second person with an association with the New Milford school district to come under a cloud this school year.
In November of 2005, Russell Cea, who taught geometry at New Milford High for the two academic years from 2003 to 2005, was arrested for allegedly having had sexual relations with at least two underage students. At the time of his arrest he was teaching at Ridgefield High School, according to Robin Ceres, a member of the department of legal and governmental affairs at the state Department of Education.
His one-sentence letter of resignation from his teaching position in New Milford, which is in his personnel file, was received in January of 2005. The BOE accepted his resignation at its Feb. 8 meeting, according to a letter to him from Dr. JeanAnn Paddyfote, and Mr. Cea's resignation took effect on June 30 of that year.
