By Tessa Roy, WPRO News
Providence School Board President Nicholas Hemond called an emergency meeting of the board in light of revelations that the school system didn’t report allegations against an elementary school gym teacher to the police of DCYF. That teacher, James Duffy of Harry Kizirian Elementary School, was charged with five counts of second degree child molestation last month.
Hemond said Duffy was removed from the school “right away, as soon as we heard about it.”
“(Duffy) was not allowed back in the school for the remainder of the year and won’t be allowed back in the school until the situation works itself out,” he said.
After a presentation of the district’s “School Emergency Preparedness Plan,” the board voted unanimously to create a working group to review district emergency protocols. That group will involve members from the office of the child advocate, the police, DCYF, and other experts, Hemond explained.
He also said that school officials, specifically all principals and vice principals, will be retrained so they’re familiar with both state and district policies on reporting incidents.
“I think what we see here tonight is we have a protocol in place that pretty much checks the boxes that it needs to check and there might be some other ways that we can ensure that in the event that someone in the chain misses their step that there’s a way for someone else to catch that,” he said.
Hemond said police are still investigating and that the school board plans to conduct its own review. Maher declined to answer questions from reporters after the meeting.
