"EX-ARHS PRINCIPAL MYERS FACES COLO. INQUIRY"
daily hampshire gazette - By Skye Rohde - April 5, 2003
AMHERST - Stephen Myers, the former Amherst Regional High School principal who resigned in 2002 amid complaints he had made improper sexual advances to a male student, is under investigation in Colorado, where he worked as a substitute teacher earlier this year.
Myers worked in the Jefferson County School District in Golden, Colo., from January to mid-March and in the Cherry Creek School District in Englewood, Colo., from late February to mid-March, according to officials in both school districts.
"There are no specific allegations here, and there's no crime that has occurred," said Greg Bramblett, an investigator for the risk management department of the Jefferson County Public Schools. He added that Myers had limited classroom exposure while a substitute teacher in the district.
Meanwhile, Myers is scheduled to appear May 1 in Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court for a decision on whether he will regain custody of his adopted son, said Bramblett.
Michael MacCormack, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, could only confirm that a court date is upcoming.
The boy was removed from Myers' custody last year following complaints about his behavior with a male student at ARHS. DSS received reports from Santa Cruz, Calif., police investigators, outlining two investigations from 1994 and 1996 into Myers' alleged sexual activities with young men and boys. The report indicated that Myers admitted having sexual relations with minors.
Myers was never charged in connection with either investigation. No charges were filed after last year's complaint, either, although David Angier, first assistant district attorney for the Northwestern District Attorney's office, said last week that the case is not yet closed.
Myers has not worked in the Jefferson County or Cherry Creek school districts, both located in the suburbs of Denver, since March 11.
Bramblett said he received a telephone call in early March alerting him to Myers' alleged history, after which he placed Myers on inactive status. A case-management team will determine whether Myers will continue to work as a substitute teacher in the district after Bramblett completes his investigation and files a report.
Myers also worked for two days as a substitute teacher in the Cherry Creek School District until Steven McGrath, the assistant superintendent of human resources, received a telephone call alerting him to Myers' alleged past.
"We don't have to hear much more than that to put a halt to things," McGrath said. He said there had been no complaints about Myers from anyone in his district.
McGrath said Myers had also been a substitute in the Denver public schools, though a spokesman in that district said he was not on the payroll or the substitute teacher list.
Myers has a Colorado teaching license that expires in February 2008 and a five-year authorization for substitute teaching effective Dec. 26, 2002, said Bramblett.
Attempts to contact Myers, who provided a Lakewood, Colo., address to one school district and a Denver address to another, were unsuccessful.
Attorney Matthew King, of the Springfield-based law firm Robinson, Donovan, Madden and Barry, said he is no longer representing Myers.
Last year's accusations against Myers, who has more than 30 years of experience in education, caused an uproar in Amherst, with some community members complaining Myers was the victim of a "witch hunt" and praising his work as principal, and others relieved by his departure and shocked by the report filed by the Santa Cruz investigators.
John Pucci, the lawyer from the Northampton-based firm Fierst and Pucci who represented the Amherst boy who alleged that Myers made an inappropriate sexual advance, said he is "in limbo."
"There is not a civil case filed at this point," he said, adding that he could not comment on whether a lawsuit will be filed in the future.
Skye Rohde can be reached at srohde@gazettenet.com.
(This article was retrieved from the Archives at GazetteNet.com,)