LEWISTON — An investigation into employee misconduct has been completed and the School Committee has taken “appropriate action,” according to Chairwoman Megan Parks.
She made the statement Monday night when the committee emerged from a four-hour executive session.
“The School Committee is not able to release further information regarding the investigation,” she said, “because the results of the investigation are confidential.”
She cited Section 6101 of Title 20-A of the Maine Revised Statutes.
The section, titled “Record of directory information,” lists which information must be kept confidential under Maine law. The list includes complaints and charges of misconduct, replies to complaints and charges of misconduct and memoranda and other materials pertaining to disciplinary action.
Parks said Tuesday that “as a result of changes that occurred within the district during the course of the investigation, the School Committee did not have an opportunity to take any disciplinary action once the investigation was completed.”
She declined to elaborate on what action was taken, other than to say it was not disciplinary.
Interim Superintendent Jake Langlais said after the meeting Monday night that he could not comment on the investigation.
“What I will say is that I appreciate the staff involved that had the courage to contribute and trust the process by following through,” Langlais wrote in an email.
He said it is important to have conclusions to such situations “so we can move forward.”
The committee voted June 15, after an executive session, to hire an independent investigator to look into an employee’s conduct.
The committee met eight more times over the summer in closed-door sessions to discuss personnel matters and once with legal counsel to discuss the committee’s rights and duties.
The vote Monday night to enter into executive session was 7-1, with City Council representative to the School Committee Alicia Rea voting against the motion. She said Tuesday that she voted against the motion because she believed the wording should have been more explicit about the reason for the executive session.
She said also that the meeting violated the city charter, which calls for a notice of two business days before a meeting is held, other than emergency meetings.
“I didn’t think it was an emergency,” she said. “It could have waited a week. It could have waited two days.”
Langlais was named interim superintendent July 15, the same day the committee accepted the resignation of former Superintendent Todd Finn, who resigned after a little more than a year on the job.
Langlais said Tuesday he anticipates being the interim superintendent for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.
“A search process will take some time and we are focused on opening schools currently,” he said.
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