The Concord school board has placed district Superintendent Terri Forsten and Concord High Principal Tom Sica on paid leave, as the board investigates allegations that school officials mishandled claims of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct by a former teacher.
In a brief email to the district Friday night, school board president Jennifer Patterson described the moves as confidential personnel matters and provided no further details.
The moves are the latest development in a months-long controversy centering on Primo "Howie" Leung, a former special education teacher who was charged in April with raping a former student. The school board hired an outside investigator to report on how district officials handled earlier allegations against Leung.
Sica has been on voluntary leave since June, after it was revealed he had suspended a student in 2014 for raising concerns about Leung’s behavior. Forsten has also been criticized for allowing Leung to continue teaching for months after the most recent allegations surfaced. She raised outcry from parents and others in the district last month when she sent a letter to staff negatively characterizing media coverage of the scandal. She soon issued an apology.
