Parents, students tout schools despite string of incidents

SWAMPSCOTT – Several administrators, community members and students interviewed believe that recent high-profile incidents in the district – including a high school teacher being placed on administrative leave for allegedly making inappropriate comments to students – are an aberration and don’t reflect any serious underlying problems.But they also almost unanimously cited a “lack of information” about the incidents from school officials that made it difficult to judge the seriousness of their nature.”Without having the facts, it’s difficult to comment on what happened or what should happen, the only thing you can note is that there are more incidents reported,” said parent Ron Brooks. “Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing or necessary or not, it goes back to what happened ? but without information people start speculating wildly about what happened, so you can’t evaluate that.”High School Principal Layne Millington blamed the press for attracting attention to the incidents.”Stuff like this happens at every school in the United States,” Millington said. “But, I can tell you from past experience, most of this stuff never makes the news ?”Administrators confirmed last week that a high school teacher had been placed on administrative leave after he allegedly made inappropriate remarks to students. But both Millington and Superintendent Lynne Celli declined to answer questions about what was allegedly said or when the incident occurred, referring to a prepared statement that was sent to parents Monday.”A Swampscott High School teacher has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation into possible inappropriate comments made to students, the statement read.The incident was the latest in a number of incidents, which included:? On May, 12, former high school adjustment counselor Thomas Healey was placed on leave and then resigned his position after police arrested him while he was allegedly breaking into a colleague’s home to steal prescription medication;? Also in May, Middle School video technology teacher Glenn Kane was placed on paid administrative leave after appearing in a video Celli called “inappropriate,” but he returned to the classroom in June and this September.? Some parents complained about a first-day-of school tradition called a “senior tunnel,” during which freshman walk through a tunnel of seniors. During this year’s event, some female students were allegedly paddled;? A 16-year-old female student was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct September 23, after getting into an argument with the school resource officer.All of the parents and students interviewed by the Daily Item said they did not know any information beyond rumors of what actually occurred at the school.Student Taylor DiPietro said she hadn’t heard of any teacher being disciplined.Parent Kristin Reid said she didn’t know enough information about the most recent incident to judge whether it was random or indicative of a larger issue.”I haven’t heard details so I don’t know,” she said.Almost all of those interviewed also said they felt that the spate of incidents in the district was just bad luck rather than an indication of underlying issues.”Every school has its ups and downs,” said student Tahlia Jacques. “We just caught ours all at once.”High School student Tiberius Weaver-Zeman said he’s spent his entire education in the Swampscott public schools and couldn’t remember any incidents concerning teachers placed on leave in the past.”Now two happened in the same time frame, it’s just bad timing,” he said.School Committee member Rich Kraft agreed that the district had experienced “more than its fair share” of incidents lately, but he said that they appeared to be random.But high school student Jared Dignan disagreed.”It kind of seems like we’re hiring the wrong people,” Dignan said during a recent interview at the high schoolBut he added that he wasn’t concerned about any underlying problems.Former school committee member Glenn Pas