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	Teacher Nabbed in Internet Sting By Susan Shultz The Darien Times June 22, 2006 http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/article_7607.shtml A Darien schools substitute teacher, who also taught religious education at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child in an Internet sting. In May, a few boys at Middlesex Middle School went to the principal's office to say that a substitute teacher supervising their class for three days had made them feel uncomfortable. When principal Debi Boccanfuso asked the boys to explain, they said that during class, the teacher had patted them on the head or shoulder for positive reinforcement. But his hand had lingered a bit too long, and had massaged their scalp or shoulder for a moment. It made the students feel "weird" they said. Boccanfuso approached the substitute teacher, according to Schools Superintendent Donald Fiftal, and explained he had crossed the line of what was appropriate, and the substitute, Patrick Lombardo, apologized for any misunderstanding. "He said 'I'm Italian, I use my hands a lot,'" Fiftal said. Fiftal said that Boccanfuso told him to please not touch the students anymore. Such conversations between the administration and staff are not common, but not completely out of the ordinary, especially for a substitute or a new, inexperienced teacher, Fiftal said. "It might be just the issue of a teacher's awareness of kids, especially at the middle school level," he said. Fiftal said the incident was relatively low key, and not considered a true misstep, so parents weren't called on this occasion. It wasn't a big blip on the radar, Fiftal said, until Patrick Lombardo was arrested on May 30 for exchanging explicit "text" with and arranging to meet with who he believed was a 15-year-old boy in Nassau County, N.Y. In fact, he was communicating with an undercover detective. Lombardo was charged with two counts of disseminating indecent material to a minor and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, Lombardo could be subject to a fine and up to four years in jail. After the district became aware of Lombardo's arrest, his name was removed from the substitutes list. Fiftal sent a letter to district parents dated June 13 informing them of the situation and the school district's actions after learning of the arrest. Since Lombardo had been a substitute at Darien High School, Hindley, Holmes, Ox Ridge, and Royle School, as well as Middlesex, Fiftal said he contacted all the principals to find out if there had been any complaints. "All the principals reported no complaints, except at the middle school, where we learned that some students felt uncomfortable about Mr. Lombardo for seemingly innocuous behaviors that were addressed at the time and didn't seem to warrant further intervention," Fiftal wrote. Fiftal encouraged parents, in light of the arrest of Lombardo, to speak with their children about Lombardo to find out if there were any other incidents that the schools may not have known about. He wrote that parents should do this in a "non-alarmist, low-key way." Further, Fiftal confirmed that Lombardo had been fingerprinted when he applied to be a substitute in six school districts (Darien, Fairfield, New Canaan, Trumbull and Westport.) He had no record. He wrote that Lombardo had worked 31 days in the Darien school district, broken down as follows: six times at the high school, once at Hindley, Ox Ridge, and Royle, and twice at Holmes. He was used most frequently at the middle school, substituting there 20 times. Since the letter went out, Fiftal said he has had "discussions with at least a dozen parents." "The good news is there is nothing flagrant or new to report, the reports that have come in are confirmations of things that we already knew, or more kids that he would pat on the back or on the shoulder or on the neck," Fiftal. Fiftal said that when a substitute is fingerprinted, those prints go to state police and the F.B.I. and that Lombardo had no official record. "That doesn't mean there weren't issues and that people might have dropped charges," he said. Board of Education Chairman John Boulton said that he felt the administration handled the issue appropriately. "They had done the proper checks that were required and once they became aware of the matter, they took action to terminate any further involvement with the teacher," he said. Boulton, who has a daughter at Middlesex, said that with the case of Lombardo's actions in May, they looked relatively innocent at the time, but are a concern in retrospect. Lombardo was also employed in town at St. Thomas More Parish as a teacher in the parish religious education system, according to Dr. Joseph McAleer, spokesman for the Diocese of Bridgeport. McAleer said that Lombardo's employment ended formally in August 2005 but that he had been contracted as a cantor for special Masses since. "As an employee, Mr. Lombardo participated fully in the Safe Environment Program of the Diocese of Bridgeport," McAleer said in an e-mail to The Darien Times. McAleer said that Lombardo attended mandatory awareness training of the warning signs of sexual abuse and reporting requirements, and, like the school district's background check, a criminal background check of Lombardo revealed no prior record of crimes against children. "During his time at the parish, no complaints of inappropriate behavior were filed against Mr. Lombardo," McAleer said. According to McAleer, the diocese remains committed to maintaining a "safe environment" for people of all ages in all of its parishes, schools, and ministries throughout Fairfield County. "To date, more than 40,000 parents, children, clergy, lay employees, volunteers, and contractors who are involved in the mission of the Catholic Church in Fairfield County have received awareness training, and approximately 15,000 of these have also undergone a criminal background check," he wrote. According to the Nassau County police department, Lombardo will be arraigned on July 6. Until then, he will remain in jail. Lombardo is being represented by a public defender. Boulton said the situation is unfortunate, but so far, the district is lucky that nothing more serious occurred during Lombardo's tenure. "The fact that checks were done in four or five other school districts and he came up clean in all of them is a really difficult and unfortunate situation. We're just glad to the best of our knowledge that none of the kids were at risk and that there weren't any serious incidents," he said.
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