WATERVILLE — Waterville police are investigating reports from former students of Don Reiter in New Hampshire who say he exhibited similar behavior to what is being alleged in Waterville.
Reiter, the Waterville Senior High School principal, is accused of asking a female student for sex Aug. 27 in his office and has been on administrative leave since Sept. 1.
Superintendent Eric Haley has recommended he be dismissed from his job. The Waterville Board of Education on Monday — the third day of his dismissal hearing — is expected to vote whether to fire him or return him to his job.
Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey said Sunday that former high school students of Reiter’s at Mascenic Regional High School in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, have been calling Waterville police since Thursday, saying he exhibited similar behavior when he was there. Massey did not say specifically what the former students are alleging. Meanwhile, the Morning Sentinel has received tips about allegations.
“We have been contacted by some former students who attended a high school where Mr. Reiter was employed, and they are alleging the same type of behavior as alleged in the Waterville case,” Massey said. “We are currently looking into this.”
Asked how many former New Hampshire students have contacted Waterville police, Massey said more than one.
Before coming to Waterville, Reiter, now 44, of Mount Vernon, was principal for three years at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School in Buckfield. Before that, he taught social studies for six years in New Ipswich and after two years became chairman of the social studies/foreign language department there. Two years later, he became assistant principal.
Reiter’s attorney, Gregg Frame, said via email that he had just heard about the New Hampshire allegations over the weekend.
“I certainly find it curious that this comes up the weekend before the board is to continue deliberations on Don’s dismissal Monday, and that there is nothing similar from Waterville or Buckfield (a decade plus) after 2 1/2 months of investigating Don,” Frame’s email says. “Don’s leave was in (news)papers in New Hampshire in early September. The superintendent had 2.5 months to prepare his case with the police cooperating fully. They were able to produce NOTHING other than a single uncorroborated allegation. This is just further evidence in my mind of the superintendent and police trying to find what they can to support their theory of the case, as opposed to dealing in facts. We’ll obviously need to know more about these latest but severely dated allegations in order to speak more clearly about them.”
A message left Sunday afternoon for Superintendent Ruthann Goguen of the Mascenic Regional School District in New Ipswich was not immediately returned. New Ipswich police were also not immediately available for comment Sunday.
Haley and Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot conducted an in-house investigation into the allegation by the Waterville student and police conducted a separate investigation. Police forwarded their report on the case to Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney, who has said she will wait until after the school board hearing is complete before making a decision about what to do in the case.
After Haley recommended Reiter’s dismissal, Reiter and Frame asked that his dismissal hearing before the school board be public. The seven-member board last week held two days of hearings, mostly in executive session, and School Board Chairman Sara Sylvester said Thursday that she expected the board would make a decision within about an hour after the start of Monday’s hearing, which begins at 5 p.m. at George J. Mitchell School.
In opening statements last week, lawyers for both sides presented opening statements in public session with the school district’s attorney, Melissa Hewey, saying evidence will show that Reiter called a student into his office Aug. 27 and asked her for sex. Reiter and Frame deny the allegations.
Frame said if the board votes to dismiss Reiter, he will appeal to the Superior Court within 30 days and the paperwork in the case will become public. The student’s name, however, will remain private, he said.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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