Montville High School staff under investigation for failing to report sexual misconduct complaint

Jan. 8--Montville The New London State's Attorney's office is investigating whether three Montville High School administrators failed to report a sexual misconduct complaint against teacher and football coach Tanner Grove by a female student, as required by state law.

Grove was placed on paid leave Oct. 14, 2021, for alleged sexual misconduct with the 14-year-old girl. The girl's mother said Grove leaned toward her daughter in class and told her she had a "nice ass."

The mother said her daughter reported the incident on Sept. 29 to school psychologist Lillian Porter at 7:30 a.m. before her class with Grove. She said her daughter also spoke with Principal Heather Sangermano and Vice Principal Rob Alves that morning.

Mandated reporters, including teachers, principals and school psychologists, are required by state law to orally report suspected child abuse to law enforcement or the state Department of Children and Families within 12 hours of receiving a complaint, and to follow that up with a written report within 48 hours. Those who fail to take these actions within the required time periods are subject to a Class A misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to a year in prison, up to a $2,000 fine, or both.

DCF defines sexual abuse of a child as "any incident involving a child's non-accidental exposure to sexual behavior."

But a state police spokeswoman said it was Montville police Officer Karen Aleshire -- not school officials -- who first reported the incident to DCF. A DCF spokesperson confirmed the agency first received a report from police about Grove on Sept. 30 at 4:30 p.m.

The mother said that earlier that afternoon, she went with her daughter after school to the police station to file a report against the teacher. Following their conversation, she said Aleshire made a report to DCF.

DCF spokesperson Ken Mysogland said the agency then assessed whether school officials delayed or failed to report the girl's complaint as required by state law.

Mysogland said DCF has completed its assessment of the situation and has referred the matter to the Office of the Chief State's Attorney.

Alaine Griffin, a spokesperson for the Office of the Chief's State's Attorney, said the New London State's Attorney's Office is looking into the allegations to see if they violate the requirements of the state's mandated reporter law. New London State's Attorney Paul Narducci did not respond to a request for comment.

Porter, Sangermano and Alves did not respond to requests for comment.

Superintendent Laurie Pallin said personnel matters of the public schools are confidential and would comment no further.

DCF completes investigation of Grove

Another DCF spokesman, Gary Kleeblatt, said the agency closed its joint investigation of Grove with police on Nov. 12, 2021, and have notified Grove, Pallin and the state Board of Education of the outcome of the investigation.

Details about the results of the investigation have not been disclosed.

Wills Pike, chairman of the Board of Education, said the board had yet to make any decision on Grove, who remains employed by the school and on administrative leave.

Grove is a 1998 graduate from the school, where he has worked since 2005. He was in his 16th season as head coach when he was placed on leave. Attempts to reach him for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

On the matter of the three high school officials and whether they failed to report the girl's complaint, Pike said he was unaware of the investigation but the board is likely to wait until it receives a decision from the State's Attorney's Office, moving accordingly from there and holding a meeting.

The fight club

The investigation of Porter, Sangermano and Alves comes less than five years after three former school administrators were charged with failure to report abuse of a student.

In that case, former Assistant Principal Tatiana Patten, former Superintendent Brian Levesque and former Principal Jeffrey Theodoss faced charges for allegedly failing to alert police or DCF after learning that a substitute teacher, Ryan Fish, supervised multiple classroom slapboxing bouts in the fall of 2017.

Two of the administrators were not prosecuted on their charges and one was granted accelerated rehabilitation.

When Levesque was placed on paid leave, Pallin became the acting superintendent in 2018. In respond to the scandal, Pallin pushed for more rigorous mandated reporter training at the time, scheduling the training for all district staff.

Administrators underwent mandated reporter training with the school district's attorney. Pallin said at the time that the training would "be much more detailed as far as how do you decide where the line is when you have to make a decision whether to report or not."

j.vazquez@theday.com

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