Stonington — Two Stonington Board of Education members are calling for a special meeting next week in light of recently revealed complaints that former high school teacher and assistant golf coach Timothy Chokas pervasively engaged in unwanted physical contact with several female students.

Alisa Morrison emailed fellow board members Thursday morning suggesting an executive session "to discuss recent events at the high school" or to at least place the school's "safe climate" plan on the next meeting's agenda. Board member Candace Anderson responded that she agreed.

Morrison's push for a meeting comes as 10 women — including four who say they complained about Chokas' behavior to Principal Mark Friese and Director of Guidance Margo Crowley two years ago — alleged to The Day this week that Chokas routinely made them uncomfortable through inappropriate physical contact during class or golf instruction. The students were between 15 and 17 years old at the time of the alleged contact, which they said included unwelcome massages and touching on their backs or legs.

"The board does need to address this issue," Morrison said in an interview Thursday. "We are really trying to foster a safe school environment. How can we learn from this to better handle things? I think we need to look at policies that deal with this, see if we can tighten them, and see if there's something we can do to change this or make people more comfortable to speak out."

Chokas, a technology and media teacher since 2003, resigned in January without explanation by school officials but with a confidential settlement awarding him his $81,396 salary and health insurance. The resignation came a month after officials received a complaint regarding inappropriate contact with a female student, and almost two years after 2017 graduates Hannah Moulton, Olivia Bayer, Grace Williams and Cassie Manfredi complained to Friese and Crowley.

Cecelia Magro, who attended Stonington High School in 2014 through 2016 before graduating in the Norwich Public Schools system, told The Day she brought similar complaints about Chokas to Crowley in the spring of 2016.

Chokas' personnel file, which The Day received through a Freedom of Information Act request, contains no record of any disciplinary action. The lack of any records upset the complainants, who said they had hoped to prevent other female students from experiencing the same unwelcome contact.

"The girls were very brave to come forward," Morrison said. "Then to find out there was no record in his file — that sends a message to the students."

State Child Advocate Sarah Eagan is seeking more details on the 2017 complaints after The Day's reports this week. She said Friday that school officials "have indicated they are in the process of responding."

Morrison noted that it wasn't the board's role to micromanage staff or comment much, if at all, on personnel issues. But she said policies surrounding reports of inappropriate behavior need scrutiny. "I would like to see the board take some forward-thinking action on preventing this in the future, and take a retroactive look at what happened," she said.

In an emailed statement on behalf of the school board, Chairwoman Alexa Garvey said, "The safety and well-being of all of our students is of utmost importance to the Stonington Board of Education and will always be our top priority. Accordingly, (the school board) will cooperate with any investigation conducted by state agencies and work with all stakeholders in order to address allegations and recommendations in an expeditions manner."

'Culture of trust and communication'

The school district in statements to The Day and letters to parents this week said student safety is its top priority. Officials said they investigated every incident thoroughly, followed required procedures and contacted appropriate stakeholders, including parents and authorities.

Friese wrote to parents this week that the high school "fosters a culture of trust and communication between students and adults with the number one priority being student safety."

Bayer's, Williams' and Magro's mothers all said in interviews that they were never contacted by administrators after their daughters lodged complaints.

State law requires school employees to report to police or the state Department of Children and Families within 24 hours if they have "reasonable cause to suspect" that a child under 18 has been the victim of abuse or neglect or is in imminent risk of serious harm.

But officials have not made clear whether they reported either the 2017 or 2018 complaints, and the district has declined to provide The Day any documentation showing whether police or DCF were contacted. Officials cited an exemption based on Freedom of Information Act decisions granting broad confidentiality to public agencies in connection with information involving possible child abuse. The refusal to release any records on the matter comes despite an agreement not to fire Chokas under a state law that allows districts to start the process of terminating a tenured teacher's contract for a range of reasons including moral misconduct, insubordination, incompetence and ineffectiveness.

School board member Farouk Rajab on Thursday said the board "wants the best for kids in terms of safety and education. I know that administrators have done everything possible to make sure this issue was addressed properly."

Phone messages left with Riley, Friese, Crowley and Title IX Coordinator Allison Van Etten were not immediately responded to. The Day emailed a host of questions related to Chokas' alleged behavior, administrators' response to complaints, school board policies and Title IX protections, training and reporting practices related to sexual harassment to school officials on Friday morning.

Riley said in an email Friday that he would be in touch but as of 9 p.m. had not responded.

Chokas had not responded to multiple phone messages and an email with a list of questions sent to him on Friday.

A message left with Stephen Murphy, who was principal when some of the students took Chokas' class, was not immediately returned Friday. Former Superintendent Leanne Masterjoseph could not be reached.

'The cool teacher'

Almost all the female students who came forward to The Day said Chokas routinely came up behind them as they sat in their classroom chairs and gave them unwanted shoulder or neck massages. Some said he touched them on their backs or shoulders as they developed film in a dark room, others on the thighs or knees after he wheeled his chair next to theirs and leaned close while they learned to use Photoshop. Some said Chokas placed his legs on girls' laps or leaned up against them. One said he tickled her and stroked her hair.

"It was just the girls. Not the guys," said Elexa Walsh, a 19-year-old 2017 graduate, when asked if she ever witnessed Chokas touch any male students the way he allegedly did with her and other female classmates.

Several students said Chokas, a 53-year-old Navy veteran with special operations training according to his LinkedIn profile, was personable and knowledgeable.

"He was like a role model to me. We were really close," Walsh said, though she grew disheartened when she witnessed and experienced things "that were out of context for a teacher," including shoulder rubs or being touched on the knee as she worked on her computer. "It definitely made me feel uncomfortable. It was every class, so every other day. More often than it should have been if it was just pointing us in the right direction."

"He taught my favorite class. He was the coolest teacher ever," said 2012 graduate Nisah Fox, who took Chokas' photography class when she was a freshman. Fox said despite liking Chokas as a teacher and person she was always "creeped out" when he massaged her or classmates' shoulders.

"You're 15, so you don't really say anything," she said. "You're naïve and don't know what's wrong."

Nina Sheffield, a 2011 graduate and professional photographer based in Mystic, wrote a letter to the school district this week saying it upset her that district staff "had no previous reports" of Chokas' behavior, which she described as inappropriate and unprofessional.

"He gets away with being the cool teacher to convince kids it's OK to open up to him and be vulnerable to him," Sheffield said in an interview, adding that the unwanted physical contact made her feel "violated and vulnerable. And I just felt like there wasn't an option to tell the school because I needed those classes. He was the only one who did photography."

Sheffield urged district officials to seek ways to improve the education and training for staff and students regarding sexual harassment and Title IX, the federal law prohibiting discrimination based on sex.

Several women said they were too intimidated to discuss the unwelcome physical contact with anyone other than their peers. Some said they worried officials would ignore them, and several said they didn't recall being informed of school board policies or Title IX provisions protecting them from inappropriate touching or offensive remarks.

"Being a teenager and being stuck in this situation really feels like you have no sense of agency," said Magro, who alleged Chokas frequently "crossed a line" by "hovering too close" and putting his hands on her knee or shoulders. "It feels like there's nothing you can do."

In a 2017 report on Hartford Public Schools' compliance with mandated reporting, the Office of the Child Advocate said schools' antidiscrimination policies "must be widely distributed and available on an ongoing basis," and state that inquiries concerning Title IX may be referred to the school's coordinator or the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

The OCR investigates sexual harassment and discrimination cases, some of which lead to civil penalties for districts found to be out of compliance with federal law.

"Federal guidance provides that schools should take affirmative steps to prohibit inappropriate conduct by school personnel and have procedures for identifying and responding to such conduct, including codes of conduct that specifically address what is commonly known as grooming," the Child Advocate report stated.

Board of Education attorney Kyle McClain noted in an email that the board policy on harassment "unambiguously states that 'harassment, in any form, will not be tolerated in this district.'"

The school also has required nondiscrimination and student grievance policies in place; violations of such policies can lead to a range of disciplinary actions, including termination.

When it comes to mandated reporting to authorities, Eagan acknowledged that determining whether a complaint meets the legal standard of "a reasonable suspicion of abuse or neglect" can be "tricky" and "a gray area."

Child abuse, according to state law, occurs when a child "has been inflicted with physical injury or injuries other than by accidental means, has injuries that are at variance with the history given of them, or is in a condition that is the result of maltreatment, including, but not limited to, malnutrition, sexual molestation or exploitation, deprivation of necessities, emotional maltreatment or cruel punishment."

Peter Yazbak, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said school districts are "only required to provide data" to the state "on verified acts" after an allegation is substantiated based on evidence discovered during an investigation. To the best of his knowledge, there is no requirement to track grievances unless they are verified.

"With that being said, most Title IX coordinators will keep a log of the complaints and investigations," Yazbak said. Districts are not required to let the state Title IX coordinator know when an allegation is made, he said.

"It would be up to a parent, guardian, etc., to contact our Title IX coordinator if they feel the district isn't being responsive to their complaint," he said. The state coordinator would then provide technical assistance to the district and follow up with parents.

Some students who came forward about Chokas defended Friese as a good principal and mentor, and said they were surprised that the 2017 complaints didn't lead to action evident in Chokas' personnel file.

Jaclyn Paride, who graduated in 2013, emailed The Day to defend Chokas. Describing him as one of her favorite teachers, she said, "He gave me dead legs, shoulder massages and joked around. Never did I feel threatened by this man."

"These girls have the right to feel safe within the school, but I believe stripping a man of what he has worked for his whole life and slandering him all over town and threatening a possible lawsuit is extreme," wrote Paride, who said she helps run Franklin Pierce's Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Alliance.

A pair of male students emailed The Day on Friday to corroborate the accounts of several women who said they'd been inappropriately touched by Chokas.

"Looking back on it, I wish I spoke up then," said Duncan Brown, a 2011 graduate. "We had no way to fully understand or handle the situation at such a young age, but we also did know that it was inappropriate and wrong."

b.kail@theday.com