WATERVILLE — The results of a police investigation into allegations against Waterville Senior High School Principal Don Reiter are expected to be forwarded to the district attorney’s office in the next several days, and the school superintendent said he thinks the school district’s investigation will be done by the end of the week.
“We are getting very close to finishing our investigation,” police Chief Joseph Massey said Tuesday. “As a matter of fact, I anticipate our lead detective, Dave Caron, will forward his report on to the district attorney’s office later this week or early next week so they can review it, sit with the detective and make decisions regarding the case.”
District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said Tuesday that when she receives such a police report, she reviews it and decides whether charges should be brought against a person.
Reiter was placed on paid administrative leave three weeks ago, but police and school officials will not say why. Reiter’s lawyer, Gregg Frame, of Portland, indicated it has to do with allegations involving another person.
School Superintendent Eric Haley said Tuesday that he expects to make a recommendation soon to the Waterville Board of Education. Haley is superintendent of Alternative Organizational Structure 92, which includes Waterville, Winslow and Vassalboro schools.
“I’m thinking by the end of this week we certainly will have concluded our investigation,” he said.
Asked whether he knows what the outcome will be, he said, “I have a sense, but I’m not at liberty to say at this point.”
Frame and Reiter met Tuesday with Haley, Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot and the school’s attorney, Melissa Hewey, to follow up on questions school officials had for Reiter at a Sept. 8 meeting.
Frame said, as he did after the Sept. 8 meeting, that there was nothing in Tuesday’s meeting that gave him pause about Reiter’s position in the schools. He said Reiter answered the questions truthfully and candidly.
“I fully expect he’ll be back in school shortly,” he said.
Frame was equally confident that the police investigation would result in no charges.
“I think the police have to conduct their investigation,” he said. “My sense is that there’ll be nothing further from this.”
Haley and Thiboutot are conducting an internal school investigation separate from the police investigation.
Haley said recently that he and Thiboutot had interviewed nearly 20 people, including high school teachers, secretaries and support staff members.
Haley placed Reiter on paid administrative leave Sept. 1 and reported the case to police Sept. 2. He said he is bound to report something to police if there’s even a hint that something illegal has taken place.
Haley gathered school staff members together on Sept. 4 to notify them that Reiter was on leave and that Assistant Principal Brian Laramee would be acting principal.
Haley called Reiter on the night of Aug. 31, a Monday, to tell him he was being placed on administrative leave and sent him a letter by U.S. Postal Service officially informing him of that leave.
The Morning Sentinel requested a copy of that letter under the state Freedom of Access Law, but Haley said he could not divulge the letter’s contents because it involves a personnel issue. The Sentinel then asked Haley, via email, to release the letter with the confidential information redacted, or blacked out. Haley said Tuesday that he would send the letter with that information redacted, but the Sentinel had not received it by early Tuesday evening.
Both Haley and Frame said the letter consists of only one sentence.
On Sept. 5, Frame said neither he nor Reiter knew why Reiter was placed on leave, but they would find out Sept. 8 in a meeting with Haley, Thiboutot and Hewey.
Frame, of Taylor, McCormack and Frame, of Portland, and Hewey, of Drummond Woodsum, also of Portland, met with their respective clients at Hewey’s office that day.
Afterward, Frame said he fully expected Reiter would be returned to his job soon, and if not, he and Reiter would prepare themselves “for what would be a long battle, because there’s no reason he shouldn’t be in school.”
Hewey, however, was more cautious in her assessment of the meeting, saying no timeline had been established “as to if or when he’ll be back in school,” and “We have additional work to do before we are able to determine where we go from here.”
Hewey did not immediately return a call placed to her office late Tuesday afternoon.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.