NH Revokes Former Concord School Superintendent's Credentials

CONCORD, NH — A former Concord school superintendent, who was fired 18 months ago after a student-rape case was revealed at Concord High School, has surrendered her education credentials and agreed never to work as a school administrator again in the state of New Hampshire.

Terri Forsten, who held superintendent, principal, elementary, and special education certifications, surrendered the endorsements this week after a lengthy investigation by the New Hampshire Department of Education and an agreement between both parties. She may return to the education sector, as a special education or elementary school teacher, in November 2024, as part of the agreement.

"The department considered the significance of this case, along with mitigating factors in reaching this agreement," Frank Edelblut, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education, said. "Our hearts are broken for the alleged victims of Howie Leung, and we are reminded of the importance of being vigilant to protect all New Hampshire children."

Forsten was accused of violating the state's Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics by neglecting to report that Primo "Howie" Leung, a high school and middle school special education teacher in the Concord School District for many years, was under an internal investigation after being accused of kissing an adult student in December 2018. The education department said Wednesday that Forsten was prevented from engaging in any type of employment or voluntary work, in a certified or non-certified capacity, in any public school district, non-public school, or charter school.

Did you like this story? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch!

State laws and education rules now require any allegations against an educator to be filed with the state. The rules were solidified about two months before the incident.

After investigating Leung, other incidents became known — including rape allegations by at least two students and an incident with another student who, after accusing him of being too cozy with middle school girls, was suspended for gossiping.

Forsten, after attending a seminar for superintendents about the new codes, came forward to the education department asking for a second opinion about the case. In the packet of materials was "a love letter" to one of the victims, discovered in Leung's school documents, according to previous reports on Patch.

One of the allegations against Leung involved rape and assault incidents against a Concord girl at a summer program for English language learners at the Fessenden School in Newton, Massachusetts, in 2015 and 2016. During the investigations, allegations of grooming against Leung would go back to at least 2011. A second girl was also discovered during the course of the investigation.

Diana Fenton, an attorney, and Richard Farrell, a retired state trooper, who both work on educator investigations for the department, looked into the SAU 8 documentation and looped in the Concord Police Department. City detectives worked the case for many weeks and were ready to end it when an investigator found evidence and was able to convince one of the victims to cooperate with the police.

Leung, who won a distinguished educator award in 2012, was hospitalized after attempting to take his own life when learning he was under investigation and might be arrested. He was arrested on rape and fondling charges in April 2019.

ALSO READ:

• How A Distinguished Concord Teacher Became A Student Rape Suspect
• Students Saw Concord Teacher Kiss, Hug Another Student: Docs
• Should The Concord School District Have Responded Faster To Case?

Almost instantly after Leung's arrest, the district and some school board members attempted to move on from the incident but there was still more fallout — including an allegation from a student, Ana Goble, that she was suspended years before for raising concerns about Leung's activities with middle school girls.

An online petition by community members was started to have Forsten and Tom Sica, who was Leung's principal at both Rundlett Middle School and Concord High School, removed — with more than 2,800 signers. Sica later agreed to a leave of absence while also working off-campus to ensure the next school year would transition smoothly without him.

The bad press, an avalanche of it, led Forsten to lash out at the media in a letter to the district's educators. She complained about the "dribble of articles and posts that have presented singular perspectives and have negatively impacted some of the community's viewpoint of our schools and work." Forsten called responding to the coverage a "full-time job" that would "very likely garner an increased number of negative responses." Forsten added, "We have chosen to put energy into moving forward." She apologized later for the letter but to some in the community, the damage was done, with many criticizing her lack of leadership and seriousness about the allegations.

The board of education decided to hire an outside investigator and initially offered the job to Robin Melone, who had previously worked for the district. But the offer was rescinded due to potentially bad optics: Melone represented Owen Labrie, the St. Paul's School student found guilty of computer services prohibited and misdemeanor sexual assault charges as well as former state Rep. Eric Schleien (R-Hudson), who pleaded guilty in 2018 to kissing the hand of a 16-year-old Phillips Exeter Academy summer program student in Portsmouth after prosecutors dropped misdemeanor sexual (groping) and simple assault charges against him.

Later, Djuna Perkins of DP Law, a former prosecutor from Massachusetts, was hired to look into what happened to Goble and why Leung was allowed to stay in the classroom for months after being accused of kissing the student. Stephen Bennett of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters PLLC was also brought in as a go-between the board and the investigator.

The report, which was more than 100-pages long, led to Forsten being fired. Sica was also fired.

In the wake of Forsten's firing, it was discovered that Donna Palley, an assistant superintendent, and Jack Dunn, the district's business administrators, were not certified by the state for their jobs. Palley was issued her certification in April 2020 while Dunn received his in October 2019.

That same month, the education department was able to reach an agreement with Leung to surrender his education credentials.

After a lengthy fight with the community, including a lawsuit, a heavily-redacted version of the report was posted on this SAU 8 website.

The report, however, left a lot of lingering questions over what happened, why, and how many other educators, administrators, staffers, and others connected to the district, played a role in not only protecting Leung but giving bad advice to Forsten.

The district has implemented a number of new policies and reporting processes in an effort to ensure an incident like this never happens again. Since the scandal, there have only been two known potentially inappropriate incidents that do not rise to the level of a rape allegation: A teacher, who is currently under investigation for online solicitation on Grindr of a former student, and a photographer of student portraits, who was fired for sharing her modeling photo business card, which promoted an OnlyFans site, with a student.

In April 2020, Forsten was nominated for a job at SAU 39, the Amherst-Mont Vernon school district, as a curriculum administrator, but the offer was later withdrawn.

Sica surrendered his educator credentials in June 2020.

Both Forsten and Sica refused requests for comment about the case.

The Leung case is still making its way through Newton District Court in Massachusetts. Concord police have not filed charges in New Hampshire against him — but investigators believe there are more victims than first reported.

Concord NH Patch won a New Hampshire Press Association Award for investigative reporting into the lack of certification status of employees in the district that was revealed during the Leung investigation.

ALSO READ:

• Former Rundlett Assistant Principal Not Credentialed For 12 Years
• Concord School District To Conduct Full Staff Credentialing Audit
• Second Concord School Employee Found Not To Be Credentialed
• Credentialing Of Concord's Acting School Super Could Take Months
• Acting Concord School Superintendent Not Credentialed With NH DOE

Editor's note: I was director of communications for the New Hampshire Department of Education between April 13, 2018, and April 16, 2019.

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.