CLAREMONT — SAU 6’s director of curriculum submitted an “abrupt and immediate resignation” to the School Board earlier this month, after documents were made public that detail a misconduct investigation that prompted his resignation from a previous job in a neighboring school district.
Rick Elliott’s email of resignation, sent to then-interim Superintendent Patrick O’Hearn, the district’s human resources director, on Sept. 3, provides no explanation for the decision.
In a separation agreement sent by O’Hearn and signed by Elliott on Sept. 3, O’Hearn references a meeting held that day and suggests the decision to resign was at least partially mutual, writing “we have determined that it is necessary to part ways.”
Elliott’s departure followed the Aug. 12 court opinion ordering the release of a report detailing how he sexually harassed multiple female colleagues during his 26 years as a math teacher and chairman of the math department at Fall Mountain Regional High School in Langdon, N.H.
The Fall Mountain investigation found a “clear evidence of a pattern of sexual harassment by Mr. Rick Elliott toward female staff members over a number of years, within the Fall Mountain Regional School District.”
Elliott’s attorney Lauren Snow Chadwick did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Elliott himself could not be reached for comment.
While the sexual harassment investigation was launched by school district leadership, its findings were kept form the public. Elliot left Fall Mountain Regional School District, which includes Charlestown, in 2022 with an $18,000 payout for salary and other benefits.
Elliott’s separation agreement also included a clause that the investigative documents would be removed from his personnel file and not shared with prospective employers and that none of the parties would share the terms of the agreement.
After resigning from Fall Mountain, Elliott went on to serve as the assistant principal of Stevens High School in Claremont for the 2024-25 school year and began as the curriculum director for SAU 6 in Claremont in July.
As curriculum director, Elliott oversaw the development and implementation of curriculum, professional development and grant management. During its Sept. 4 meeting, the SAU 6 board voted unanimously to eliminate the curriculum director position entirely amid ongoing financial struggles, according to meeting minutes.
At the meeting, O’Hearn said that the district has hired a consultant to assist with the job’s responsibilities in the superintendent’s office about one day a week.
“I don’t think there’s an immediate need to fill that position, especially given the financial distress of the district and our priorities,” O’Hearn told the board. “I’m not confident that that’s a need right now.”
Elliott’s budgeted salary for this academic year was $97,500, according to his contract.
O’Hearn offered Elliott $3,750 in severance pay in addition to his last paycheck and extended his health, vision and dental insurance benefits through the end of October, in exchange for Elliott forfeiting any right to legal action. Elliott signed the agreement, without which the health benefits would have ended at the end of September.
O’Hearn did not respond to multiple requests for comment. At the time of the Elliott agreement, O’Hearn was serving as interim superintendent while Superintendent Chris Pratt was on administrative leave.
In mid-September, Pratt resigned and O’Hearn returned to his primary role of human resources director. He was replaced by Claremont Middle School Principal Kerry Kennedy who is now serving as interim superintendent.
Fall Mountain conducted the investigation into Elliott in response to formal complaints against him filed by three staff members in 2022.
It had been sealed by the school district and was only made public in response to a ruling by the N.H. Supreme Court last month. Keene Publishing Corporation — the publisher of the Keene Sentinel newspaper — sought access to the records under the state’s Right-to-Know Law and won.
The report indicates the comments went back at least as far as 2007.
Following an appeal, investigating attorney Debra Weiss Ford concluded that Elliott had violated the district’s sexual harassment policies, but he had not violated Title IX standards. Title IX is a federal regulation that prohibits discrimination based on sex, including sexual harassment, in education.
Both kinds of harassment included possible penalties as severe as termination.
In addition to victim and witness accounts, the 174-page investigation report includes letters of warning school officials sent to Elliott for reported incidents in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Elliott resigned in July 2022 after the investigation was completed by attorney Debra Weiss Ford of the Portsmouth-based firm Jackson Lewis.
The resignation was “not in lieu of a termination and he was not asked to resign,” according to a separation agreement included in the report.
The parties agreed to tell students, families and teachers in the district that “Mr. Elliott’s resignation was the result of personal reasons to pursue other life adventures.”
