After 3 youngster porn arrests in Needham faculties, superintendent broadcasts adjustments

Local News

More training for staff members and an outside audit of the district’s onboarding practices were some of the announced changes.

Changes are coming to Needham Public Schools after three employees were charged with child porn possession in recent months. 

In March, middle school teacher Michael Ciccolella was arrested and accused of viewing and distributing child porn. Then, a month later, Needham High School band director Spencer Parrish was charged with possession of child porn. Earlier this week, Needham Extended Day employee Christopher Carlisle was arrested on similar charges. 

Speaking about the three recent cases involving district employees, Superintendent Daniel Gutekanst said that police do not believe them to be connected and that no Needham students were involved, The Boston Globe reported. 

Gutekanst’s office and other representatives from the district did not respond to requests for information Thursday. 

In response to the arrests, Gutekanst announced multiple changes Wednesday night at a community meeting. The district will hire an outside consultant to audit safety protocols and the district’s onboarding practices for new hires. Gutekanst said that he would share the results of that audit with the school community, per the Globe. 

Gutekanst also said that a more “robust” training program for staff members would be implemented in August, according to the Globe. It will reportedly focus on teaching staff members in Needham how to flag and report troubling conduct. 

The district will also expand its Child Protection Unit to include students from kindergarten through fifth grade. That program, which was new to the district this school year, involves teachers leading lessons on personal safety. Students are taught how to recognize unsafe situations and how to report them to adults. These lessons were only taught to kindergarteners this year, Needham Local reported. 

Finally, Gutekanst announced that the counseling services offered by the district this week in the wake of Carlisle’s arrest will continue over the summer, the Globe reported.