Documents show former Old Forge teacher had porn on his iPad
The school board fired Thomas but later allowed him to resign as part of a secret settlement. Thomas, who won election to the board and became a school director in the fall, received
Documents and interviews with former and current school directors reveal a board desperate to rid itself of Thomas but wary of a long and costly legal battle. In complaints he filed with the federal
In the end, directors decided it was cheaper to pay Thomas, 45, to go away.
"The board, individually, was very reluctant to settle. We wanted to bring forth what our reasons were, but under advice from counsel, we were told this was our best option," said former board President
Current school director
"The settlement was reached because at that point we could control damages and losses," he said. "Otherwise, litigation could impale the district."
Documents obtained by the newspaper speak for themselves. On
On the same day,
Marsh declined to comment about the documents.
After Thomas said the iPad was missing, Rushefski asked him to file a police report and provide a written statement to the district, according to the documents.
In the report filed with
The district placed Thomas on administrative leave on
"It appears that the browser history shows evidence of inappropriate content for school district equipment," the company reported to the district.
A forensic audit revealed that
Among the documents obtained by The Sunday Times is a screenshot of a rentmen.com profile with the user name Butterpsu, described as a "premium client."
Also recovered on the district devices were photos of male genitalia, shirtless men, a man's naked buttocks, a sex act, a sex toy and a woman in lingerie. The documents reveal that Thomas tried to blame a student and another teacher for the images.
Then-school board
n Lying to the district by saying he could not return the district-owned iPad which was issued to him as a district administrator.
n Filing a fraudulent incident report with the
n Using the iPad to visit pornographic, sex solicitation and potentially illegal prostitution websites and store pornographic pictures, violating the district's Acceptable Use Policy and school code.
n Downloading and storing, during school time, pornographic material taken in his home, to a district-owned laptop, also a policy violation.
n Uploading pornographic material to the district network server, another policy violation.
The board officially fired Thomas during a
District officials thought they were done dealing with Thomas, who had a history as a problem employee who clashed with at least two superintendents. As part of the settlement, the district also agreed to remove a letter of suspension from 2012, two letters of reprimand from 2015 and one from 2016, and principal evaluations from 2013 and 2016.
Thomas, however, was not done with the district. A registered Democrat, he won a bid for the general election on the Republican ticket in the
A 1990 Old Forge graduate, Thomas won a seat on the school board in 1993, but resigned to take a district teaching job in
In June, the newspaper revealed that the state
As of Friday, Thomas' certifications as a social studies teacher and kindergarten-to-12th-grade principal remain valid, according to the
Thomas did not respond to multiple attempts to reach him for comment, including numerous phone and Facebook messages, emails and two visits to his home Thursday and Friday.
Asked in
Contact the writers: [email protected], 570-348-9100 x5114, @kbolusTT on Twitter; [email protected]; 570-348-9133; @HofiusHallTT on Twitter; [email protected], 570-348-9100, x5435, @cjkink on Twitter
Board meeting
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