Seven months after filing a complaint against School Superintendent Thomas Jefferson with the state’s Criminal History Systems Board (CHSB), Harvard resident Robert Harrah still hasn’t got a ruling from that board, he told the Press this week. Harrah filed the complaint against Jefferson last April for allegedly disclosing confidential information that was in Harrah’s Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) report, in violation of state law.
Harrah said that Jefferson allegedly shared information in his CORI report with another Harvard resident, B.J. Pessia, at a middle school dance last November. He said that Pessia had approached him sometime in January or February of this year, and told him that Jefferson had brought up Harrah’s CORI record while they were watching some parents dance. Pessia said that Jefferson had described Harrah, who was not at the dance, as a partier, and proceeded to divulge details contained in Harrah’s CORI report.
Harrah said he did not file a complaint right away, but became more upset about the incident the longer he thought about it.
“The superintendent is in a very responsible position,” he said. “It’s very significant that he shared that information.”
Harrah said the information in the CORI report stemmed from incidents that occurred in 1974 and 1981, which resulted in his payment of several fines.
Pessia told the Press that after Harrah filed the complaint, she received a form from the Criminal History Systems Board, requesting her account of the incident. She said she responded immediately.
Harrah said that his contact at the Criminal History Systems Board, Deputy Counsel Agapi Koulouris, told him a letter had also been sent this summer to Special Education Director Charles Horn, the only other person in the district besides Jefferson to have access to CORI information, requesting a response about the incident. Harrah said that the board had received no response until mid-September, and then was informed that Jefferson did not recall the conversation with Pessia. (Horn did not return calls from the Press seeking comment.)
Harrah said he initially wanted the matter handled quietly, but Jefferson’s response prompted him to publicize his story.
“Jefferson’s response put me over the edge,” he said. “I made a complaint that was substantiated by another person. His response was unacceptable.”
(Jefferson declined comment when the Press called him in October.)
Harrah said that Koulouris told him the complaint was reviewed by the board at a meeting Oct. 24, and was then turned over to the CHSB’s legal division for further study, after which it would be reviewed again at the board’s Nov. 28 meeting.
Koulouris did not return a call from the Press seeking confirmation of Harrah’s information, but referred the call to Terrel Harris, communications director for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and a spokesperson for the Criminal History Systems Board. Harris confirmed that a complaint had been received from Harrah, but said that no one at the agency could comment on any aspect of the case because “it’s an ongoing investigation.”
Harris said that in any case that comes before the board, if there are findings of wrongdoing, the board determines whether to consider civil sanctions—up to $500—or whether to refer it to the attorney general for a criminal investigation. He said there is no set time frame for completing reviews of complaints received by the board.
“It takes as long as it takes,” he said.
