Lynn teacher ‘horrified’ over student’s sexual affair claim

LYNN – A Lynn school teacher acted shocked when she learned a former student made allegations that she initiated a sexual relationship with him when he was just a seventh-grader.Superintendent of Schools Catherine Latham said she received a letter in December 2009 regarding an alleged inappropriate relationship between a student and Kristin Rillovick, who by that time was teaching at Classical High School.”(Rillovick) was horrified by the accusation,” she said.Justice Gonzalez, now 19, alleges in a lawsuit filed in Salem Superior Court that Rillovick initiated a romantic affair with him when he was her seventh-grade student at the Cobbet School. The affair, according to the lawsuit, spanned nearly five years and only ended in autumn 2009 when Rillovick broke it off. Gonzalez also claims that although he eventually confided in a guidance counselor, school officials never reached out to him.Gonzalez’s attorney, Michael McCarthy of East Boston, said Friday he was forced to file the lawsuit because an attempt to address and resolve the issue with the city went nowhere.”I put in a claim with the city a while back and they refused to work with us,” he said.City Solicitor Michael Barry said that is not true. Barry said McCarthy filed a “notice of presentation,” which he is required to do and which gives the city six months prior to the lawsuit being filed to gather evidence and make its case.Latham said she first heard about the issue in December 2009 when she received a letter about the alleged affair from McCarthy and she turned the letter over to the Police Department.Latham said at that point Rillovick was put on paid administrative leave while both the School Department and police launched separate investigations into the issue.Neither investigation turned up any evidence to substantiate Gonzalez’s claim, Latham said, and she reinstated Rillovick, who is still a foreign language teacher at Classical.Barry backed up Latham’s claims. He said despite Gonzalez’s claims that nothing was done, procedure was followed.Barry said after Gonzalez told the guidance counselor about the alleged affair, the counselor reported it to his supervisor, Vice Principal Jennifer Mancianello O’Hagan, who reportedly told then Principal Andrew Fila. Barry said Fila reported the issue to the police.”We’ve been dealing with this accusation for almost a year,” Latham said.When asked if she knew if Rillovick had any type of relationship with Gonzalez, Latham declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.Attorney Tom McCarthy, who is also on Gonzalez’s case, said he had no comment regarding the School Department’s investigation and would only say there was a “technical” reason as to why the police’s investigation turned out as it did.Michael McCarthy said the city has yet to respond to the lawsuit but said it’s only been a few days.Ironically, on his Facebook page, Gonzalez belongs to a group called “Cobbet Middle School were the best years” and he hit “like” on a comment that stated, “we had the coolest teachers!! I miss those years!”