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St. Paul’s School official: Teacher’s departure ‘badly handled’

FILE - This Feb. 26, 2016 file photo shows the entrance to St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H. The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office is launching a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual assault and misconduct at the elite prep school. The investigation into the school follows the release of a report in May 2017 detailing sexual assaults by teachers on their students, earlier information about student sexual conquest rituals and allegations of a similar ritual reported in June. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File) Jim Cole / AP, File

By Associated Press

1 minute to read

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The head of a New Hampshire prep school’s board of trustees says a teacher who was let go in 2008 for “repeated boundary crossings” involving students should have been dismissed earlier and shouldn’t have been given a favorable recommendation.

A letter from Archibald Cox to the St. Paul’s School community said Thursday that David Pook’s departure was “overdue and badly handled.”

The 47-year-old Pook was charged last week with witness tampering and conspiring to commit perjury following a grand jury investigation into misconduct allegations at St. Paul’s.

Cox also addressed the release of former student Chessy Prout’s book, saying the Concord school is “confronting and transforming an unfortunate legacy of hierarchy, privilege, and abuse.”

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Graduate Owen Labrie was convicted of assaulting Prout as part of a sexual conquest game. He is appealing the conviction.