Stonington — A former high school employee and a parent of a student have made separate complaints about high school psychologist Maureen Masson in relation to her comments about the handling of allegations that former teacher Timothy Chokas inappropriately touched female students.

Police have ordered Masson to have no contact with Katherine Milde, who worked in the school's career center before leaving last year. Milde alleges Masson harassed her with text messages after Milde criticized school officials for their handling of complaints against Chokas.

Milde had urged the Board of Education at its Jan. 23 meeting to begin an independent investigation into the handling of the complaints, adding that teachers and staff at the school were well aware of the years of complaints against Chokas but took no action. She became the first high school staff member to comment on the Chokas controversy.   

According to a police report, the next day Milde contacted police after she said she had received a text message from Masson that said “wow-wtf.” She said it was the first contact she'd had with Masson in 15 months.

She told police she also became worried people may be targeting her after she said her LinkedIn page notified her that Chokas and a school paraprofessional had viewed her profile, which screenshots of the page verify. Milde told police she was uncomfortable because her husband would be away for a few days and she would be home alone with her son.

In her report, veteran police Officer Theresa Hersh wrote that she then called Masson about the text message Milde had received.

Hersh wrote that Masson “immediately became upset” and told Hersh that her husband, Jay Masson, was a retired state trooper. She admitted to sending the text and another with a Pinocchio nose emoji, a reference to being a liar.

After saying she would not have any further contact with Milde, Masson told Hersh that “if Katherine was on fire she wouldn’t have someone piss on her to put her out.” Masson also told Hersh to give Milde “a message from her that she is a pathological liar.”

Hersh warned Masson not to have any further contact with Milde.

Parent complaint

Meanwhile, the father of a student who made complaints about Chokas complained in a Jan. 25 email to school board members about posts Masson made last month to the Stonington Community Forum Facebook page in response to stories published in The Day about Chokas.

Christopher Manfredi wrote that a Jan. 22 post, in which Masson revealed she has “first hand knowledge” of the complaints and knows many statements she’s read about Chokas to be false, will deter students from coming to her as the school psychologist when they have a concern.

Her comments question the veracity of other postings about Chokas on the forum, including those of former students, and The Day’s reporting.

“Being the School Psychologist, a student could make a logical assumption that this 'first hand knowledge' is the result of students confiding in her. Whether or not that assumption is accurate, any current student’s faith in her ability to maintain confidentiality would surely be diminished along with their likelihood of using Maureen Masson’s services. She is severely compromising her ability to complete her job duties,” Manfredi wrote.

The Jan. 22 posting by Masson that Manfredi was referring to was as follows: “As I read the posts on this forum and filter the content through my 'close personal friends' in the law enforcement community — I am increasingly frustrated and upset by the absence of a voice of reason in the forest of insanity. I have read countless statements I know first-hand to be patently false."

"As I have always counseled my own children, 'choose your words carefully, for you may some day be forced to eat them' and 'just tell the truth.' Appears our community is a microcosm for the issues plaguing our country — 'hate rules' and the truth is irrelevant," she wrote.

She continued: "When did being a journalist give anyone carte Blanche to pass off fiction as facts?”

Masson did not respond to an email from The Day asking which published statements were false.

Information for The Day’s reporting on the Chokas matter has come from four places: on-the-record statements from identified students past and present, their parents and school board members; documents and emails released by the school district in response to Freedom of Information requests; statements made under oath at state FOI Commission hearings by Superintendent Van Riley and high school Principal Mark Friese; and statements made at public meetings.

Manfredi also wrote that “highly placed staff members of Stonington Public Schools (or any employer) should not be commenting publicly on an ongoing investigation as human resource policies and best practices are fairly standard on this matter."

He added that while Masson has made disapproving references to those who have criticized the behavior of Chokas and/or the response of the school administration and elected representatives, "she is cordial, welcoming and (complimentary) toward students who report never personally being victimized." But he said he can find no statements where she thanked victims of Chokas for sharing their perspective and firsthand knowledge.

"Such statements by a staff member, particularly a senior member of the administrative team at Stonington High School help to create an atmosphere where students, particularly female students, assume that it's useless to report inappropriate behavior as they will either not be believed or no action will be taken," Manfredi wrote.

In response to Manfredi’s email, board member Candace Anderson, who has stated she hopes the school board’s upcoming independent investigation of the Chokas matter clears school officials of any wrongdoing because she feels they did nothing wrong, defended Masson’s right to speak out on the issue.

“I see no problem with Mrs. Masson expressing her personal opinion on a public forum. She is not violating confidentiality, but standing up for her personal experience and beliefs. Unfortunately, I believe many SHS staff have felt that they can’t speak their minds as they’ve watched their colleagues’ fate be determined by public opinion, which has been largely due to selective reporting by The Day, rather than actual fact. This is precisely why I supported an additional independent investigation, in addition to the original (being) conducted by the state (Office of the Child Advocate),” she stated in an email to Manfredi.

Until two weeks ago, Anderson had been one of the board members blocking the independent investigation being called for by board member Alisa Morrison since last summer.

“People who have served the district with the highest caliber of distinction have a right to dispute opinions that challenge the reality they have known. If a parent has the right to voice their concerns at a BOE meeting, why should a professional not have the right to speak her mind on a public forum? I think she is following her conscience — the same one that has served every student in the district for the 20+ years she has been employed at SHS,” Anderson added.

Asked if the school district had taken any disciplinary or administrative action against Masson in relation to the two complaints, Board of Education Chairwoman Alexa Garvey said Wednesday that the school board does not discuss personnel matters.

Masson's response

In a lengthy statement to The Day late Wednesday night, Masson said she had developed a "close friendship" with Milde when the two worked together at the high school. Masson said that on Jan. 24, neighbors asked her what she thought about a television report in which a woman said "that many girls at the high school told her they were sexually assaulted by a teacher."

Masson said she determined the woman was Milde and sent her the "wow-wtf" text. An hour later, Masson said she had an opportunity to view the actual statement Milde had made to the media and "found that content to be as (inaccurate) as the neighborhood gossip."

Masson said that it was implausible Milde would not have shared such information with her. 

"If Kate (Milde) was telling the truth about her experiences at SHS, she had made a unilateral decision to withhold this information from everyone in a position to address her concerns, including me," Masson wrote. "If Kate wasn't telling the truth, I had been fooled by a smooth charlatan, with atypical motivations and a need for attention and affirmation so extreme that she was compelled to fabricate some false narrative casting herself as the tragic hero — only she was equipped to act upon and share in public forums so that all may know the gravity of her position."

Weighing the two possibilities, Masson said she was certain Milde was not telling the truth and sent her the Pinocchio emoji "which I assumed she would understand to say, 'you are lying.'"

She said 15 minutes after she sent that message, Hersh called to say Milde had filed a criminal complaint against her for threatening and harassing her.

"The Officer appeared to believe that I had threatened Kate in some way. WHAT? I sent two text messages to a woman that until a few hours ago I had considered a friend," Masson wrote. "Kate went on the news and falsely accused me, my colleagues and our administration of a systematic conspiracy; if anyone should feel threatened in this scenario, it's me."

Masson said that in an attempt to allay Hersh's "fear that I was a menace to society, I explained that my husband was retired from (Connecticut State Police) Major Crime (Squad). We are a law and order kind of family."

As for her comments to Hersh, Masson said, "I believe my exact words were, please tell Kate, 'I would not piss on her if she were on fire'. Where I grew up in Jersey City, this expression is meant to succinctly convey to an individual that their transgression is so egregious that you have moved beyond the capacity to even feel anger toward them, and you are now completely indifferent."

The numerous complaints against Chokas, who also served as the girls' assistant golf and soccer coach, include that he allegedly placed his legs on girls' laps, touched their backs and thighs, stroked their hair, massaged their shoulders, pushed up against them, tickled them and struck one girl in the buttocks with a cane he was using. They also allege he asked girls about their boyfriends and invited them to have breakfast with him in his classroom. The alleged touching took place in his classroom, an adjacent photo darkroom and at golf and soccer practice sessions. Those who have spoken to The Day say the touching was pervasive, occurred daily and dates back to 2004. Some students say they reported the incidents to school staff. 

Riley and Friese have testified under oath they did not consider various reports about inappropriate touching and comments lodged against Chokas by students, referred to in various school documents and emails in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 and from the girls themselves, as complaints. Instead, they considered them "reports," "interactions with people" and "concerns" expressed by students and others. These categorizations meant that the complaints were not placed in Chokas' personnel file and not released to The Day when the newspaper requested them last year.

In January 2019, a female student complained to Milde, who worked in the career center, that Chokas was touching a female classmate and making inappropriate comments to her. Milde said she brought the girl to Assistant Principal Neal Curland.

That incident led to Chokas being allowed to resign with his full salary of $81,396 and benefits through the end of the school year. The school system also agreed not to fire him or disclose any information concerning his employment to anyone, except as required by law. Chokas was never disciplined for his alleged actions, according to school officials.

j.wojtas@theday.com