Massachusetts

Superintendent: Coach Placed on Leave Amid Allegations

A coach at a Massachusetts school district has been placed on administrative leave amid misconduct allegations.

Narragansett Regional School District's superintendent announced the decision Friday afternoon in a letter to community members.

"He apparently was sending stuff to students. That's not okay. That kind of needs to stop," Jacob Brown, a senior at Narragansett Regional, said.

The letter alerted the community that the coach cannot have contact with any students associated with the alleged incident, can't be present at any games or practices and can't even come onto school property for the time being.

"It's scary," Cindy Lafreniere, a parent at Narragansett Regional, said. "It's alarming to know there are individuals in the educational system that take advantage of children, and are involved in such activities."

Police and school officials are not saying what sport the coach is involved with, or if they teach any classes.

"Oh it infuriates me," Nancy Amidon, a Narragansett Regional alumna, said. "It's absolutely wrong, 100 percent, but unforunately predators know where to hide in situations like this."

The coach, whose name has not been released, was placed on administrative leave after Superintendent Dr. Christopher Casavant learned about a complaint that had been filed with the Templeton Police Department regarding allegations that the coach "had sent inappropriate content to a student."

This is the second time in two months a staff member here has been accused of misconduct. In August, math teacher Warren Anderson was arrested after authorities allegedly found child pornography on his home computer.

"It kind of shakes the foundation for students when you see your role models and stuff like that doing things they should not be doing," Brown said.

Lafreniere says it's difficult to protect your children from these kinds of incidents.

"You kind of get to a point where you don't know what to do to protect them. You try to do the very best you can but unfortunately sometimes no matter what you do they're going to be exposed to people like this," she said.

Police are only saying this is an active and ongoing investigation.

"This allegation is currently under investigation to determine its validity, and the District has no further information at this time," Casavant wrote.

The district attorney says no charges have been filed at this time.

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