A teacher was fired in New Hampshire after investigators concluded she secretly escorted a pregnant student to a medical appointment during the school day, ostensibly to access abortion services.
The teacher admitted to her employer that she had lied about having food poisoning when she called in sick from work and drove the student to the medical facility, according to records obtained by The Boston Globe through a public records request. State officials then opened an investigation into her alleged failure to observe appropriate boundaries with the student entrusted to her care.
The information substantiates an eye-catching allegation that New Hampshire’s education commissioner, Frank Edelblut, publicized in an op-ed in April as he defended his approach to leadership and accountability. To illustrate controversies that would warrant investigations by the New Hampshire Department of Education, he rattled off a list of examples.
Advertisement
“How should the department respond when a parent has reached out to express concern that a teacher had called a student a ‘White supremacist’ and confiscated their Trump flag while ignoring the student wearing the Pride flag? … Or when an art teacher, rather than teaching art, introduces children to Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ for Kids, without consulting with parents or school leadership,” he wrote. “Should we look the other way?”
In that list, Edelblut briefly mentioned a teacher having been accused of lying to take the student to “get an abortion” without their parents knowing.
“Should we turn a blind eye?” he asked, rhetorically.
By stoking concerns about secrecy between school personnel and students, Edelblut’s op-ed echoed a contentious debate over “parental rights” legislation that state lawmakers considered in 2022 and 2023. Edelblut, a socially conservative former GOP candidate for governor, expressed disappointment last year when the legislation was defeated.
His op-ed included enough detail to inspire public mistrust of New Hampshire educators, but not enough detail to verify its allegations. It didn’t cite evidence to substantiate the abortion-related allegation, and neither Edelblut nor a spokesperson for the Department of Education would tell the Globe in April whether the allegation had been investigated and deemed credible.
A month later, in late May, in response to a public records request from the Globe, the department released a heavily redacted one-page report about the incident, and posted it publicly online. The letterhead, address, and name of the investigating party were redacted.
Advertisement
The document said the teacher had told investigators she helped the student “determine how far along they were … so the student knew what options they’d have available,” located a “safe” facility for the procedure, spoke with the student for two and a half weeks about the appointment, and offered to accompany them based on a belief that the student “didn’t have anyone to support them.”
The teacher was placed on administrative leave through the remainder of her employment contract, at which point her termination would take effect, according to the redacted report, which does not reveal the year in which her firing was or will be finalized.
The department released two additional records on June 7. Although the names of the teacher and the school were redacted, the teacher’s last name was included in the metadata for one of the documents. An attorney for the department, Elizabeth A. Brown, acknowledged the name had been divulged mistakenly.
No one with the teacher’s last name appears on the department’s public list of educators with suspended or revoked credentials. One person with that last name is included among educators with active certifications.
That teacher, who holds an experienced educator license, was listed on a school website as working for Regional Services and Education Center Inc., a nonprofit based in Amherst, N.H., that has been providing special-education services for more than four decades. The nonprofit, which serves students from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, runs small non-public schools that cater to students in grades 5-12 with special needs and learning disabilities.
Advertisement
While superintendents and school board members from surrounding public school districts serve on RSEC’s board, the state lists the private nonprofit’s facilities as non-public schools.
The nonprofit’s executive director, Devin Bandurski, declined to answer questions about the teacher.
“Matters involving personnel will not be discussed,” she said through a spokesperson.
Shortly after the Globe contacted RSEC with questions about the teacher and the abortion-related allegation, the teacher’s name was removed from the list of faculty and staff on the school’s website. A years-old post about her having received special recognition was removed as well.
The teacher did not respond to interview requests. The Globe is not naming her at this time to protect the student’s privacy.
The records that the Department of Education released on June 7 include an email showing that someone — their name, title, and employer are redacted — sent the initial one-page investigative report to Richard Farrell, an investigator for the department, on Oct. 19 (the year is redacted).
The records also include a letter that Deputy Education Commissioner Christine M. Brennan sent using official state letterhead on Nov. 9 (the year is redacted) to notify the teacher that the department had opened an investigation into possible violations of the educator code of conduct.
“Namely, the allegation is that you failed to properly supervise and abide by ethical standards regarding student boundary protocols with a student under your care,” the letter states.
Brennan’s letter says the teacher’s license and credential are valid during the pending investigation, but the reason for that is redacted.
Advertisement
A spokesperson for the Department of Education declined to answer questions about the case, citing the “investigatory nature” of this matter.
It’s illegal in New Hampshire to perform an abortion on an unemancipated minor younger than 18 years old until 48 hours after providing written notice to the pregnant minor’s parent. In Massachusetts — the state line is a 20-minute drive from Amherst, N.H. — pregnant patients who are 16 or 17 can consent to an abortion without involving their parents. Each state also has a process for minors to persuade a judge to grant an exception.
None of the records obtained by the Globe specify whether the medical facility was located within New Hampshire, whether the student was an unemancipated minor at the time, or whether the teacher made any representations to medical staff concerning her relationship to the student. They also do not confirm whether an abortion was performed.
Bandurski did not say whether RSEC reported the matter to law enforcement. Spokespeople for the Amherst Police Department and New Hampshire Department of Safety, which includes State Police, said their departments had no record of reports about the incident.
A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, which includes the Board of Medicine, an agency that oversees health care providers, declined on Tuesday to comment.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said on Tuesday that staffers for the state’s Board of Registration in Medicine had checked their files and found no records responsive to the Globe’s request.
The teacher has since been hired to work at a public school district in New Hampshire, according to school board meeting minutes. The school board for the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District voted in early May to accept the teacher’s nomination for a job beginning in August, according to meeting minutes. The superintendent for that district, Reuben Duncan, did not respond to questions regarding whether the district became aware of the abortion-related allegation before the hiring process concluded.
Advertisement
Steven Porter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @reporterporter.