OPINION: The Bethel Community Experienced a Difficult Situation Last Night

I believe that school officials and police acted appropriately in a difficult situation and I commend them.

Report by Paula Antolini
February 21, 2015 3:33PM EDT

Yesterday, Feb. 20, 2015, Bethel Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Christine Carver issued a letter to parents concerning alleged inappropriate behavior by a Bethel school staff member. The nature of the letter was disturbing and caused great concern among parents and caregivers, myself included. It also caused an immediate reaction in news and social media outlets. Is that type of media publicity appropriate considering the victims are possibly children?

Put yourself into Dr. Carver’s position and ask yourself what you would do. I am sure she was in shock like the rest of us but I, for one, think she handled it in the best way possible under the circumstances. She had to alert parents of an ongoing investigation of a serious situation and that’s what she did. 

Now also put yourself in the place of the parents of children who were the possible victims. Dr. Carver was obligated to inform parents but what purpose did it serve to inform the rest of the public if no one was in harm’s way at the time and without the benefit of knowing all of the facts? In my opinion, this has the potential to cast a sad shadow over Bethel and our school system and undermines all the dedicated teachers and administration.

So now you have the news media in a frenzy. I’m told media vans arrived at the school late last night. It is times like these, same as the Sandy Hook event, that I find it difficult being part of the news media. I follow a code of ethics but there are times when we also have to make judgement calls.

I witnessed many conversations in social media last night that hurled accusations such as, “why didn’t they do this,” or “why didn’t they do that,” without stopping to think how carefully this situation needed to be handled. The primary goal was the safety of our children and the privacy and protection of the possible victims and their families. Both of these were handled well by our superintendent, in my opinion.

A common criticism in some of the social media chat rooms was that Dr. Carver, “left parents hanging over a weekend” and that she should have had a public meeting last night. Do you really think having a group of angry parents come to the school last night, while they were still in a frenzy, would have been the right call? Students were safe, that was the important part, and even if Carver had a meeting, she would likely not have been able to provide any more information than she already had. What would have been accomplished?

In my opinion, it’s time to take a deep breath and find out exactly what happened so appropriate measures can be taken. According to Dr. Carver’s letter, the suspect was banned from school property and access to computers and the families of those affected have been notified. The school will provide counselors at Berry School on Monday, February 23, 2015, to students and staff who wish to utilize their services and parents are encouraged to “contact any administrator who is available to discuss any specific concerns a parent may have, whether on Monday or subsequently.” I would expect another follow-up letter from Carver Monday or Tuesday? I believe the importance of close daily communication with our children needs to be stressed here, obviously, but some situations are not preventable despite all efforts. We have to be realistic and not point fingers. 


Given the above considerations, I decided not to run the story on my Bethel Advocate news media website or post anything in social media yesterday. I believe that school officials and police acted appropriately in a difficult situation and I commend them. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to the families and possible victims involved.  I am sad that this type of incident has occurred in our community. The answer is not to criticize but to commend those who were faced with some tough decisions last night. In time of need a community should gather together and help one another.

Paula Antolini
Bethel Advocate

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UPDATE February 21, 2015, 4:24PM:

Dr. Christine Carver has just sent a follow up email on Saturday, Feb. 21, (I received at 4:14 p.m.), to parents regarding Thursday’s incident. In it she included some parent questions and provided answers.

Parents are encouraged to contact her via email. She said, “If any parents have specific questions, please send me an email at carverc@bethel.k12.ct.us with your phone number. I will call you within 24 hours and try and address any questions that I am legally able to answer.”