Schools Seek to Reassure Parents

As Norwalk Public Schools sought to reassure parents that they do everything to keep their children safe, a principal said the substitute teacher arrested yesterday worked at Norwalk’s alternative middle school, not the high school.

That was the only comment Briggs Principal Alaine Lane would make about yesterday’s arrest of Dina McNelis. “The Board of Ed policy is that we don't comment on an ongoing police investigation,” Lane said.

However, Fay T. Ruotolo, the district’s human resources officer, said the arrest of a second staff member in fewer than two weeks was a matter the district was looking at carefully. McNelis surrendered to Norwalk Police on Tuesday and was charged with risk of injury to a minor and breach of peace. Norwalk police are providing no additional information about the charges. On April 30, Brien McMahon High School art teacher John Tate was arrested and charged with sexual assault in the second degree for engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old student. Both cases were investigated by Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families along with the Norwalk Police.

“I want to assure parents that when something is reported, we respond swiftly,” said Ruotolo. She said the district conducts both professional and personal background checks on all employees but not everything will appear on a background check. Reports published yesterday in The Hour indicate there had been previous concerns about McNelis's behavior as early as 2003 when McNelis was removed from a classroom at Cranbury Elementary School. Prior to her working at Briggs, Jefferson Elementary administrators also complained about her behavior.

"The good thing is, both of these cases came to light," said Ruotolo, speaking of McNelis and Tate. "We are being as careful as we can be and as thorough as we can be both here at Central Office and at the schools."

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