The new assistant head of school at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston has been terminated for allegedly having sexually inappropriate content on his city-owned laptop, GBH News has learned.
The Boston Public Schools said it cannot disclose the name of the former employee due to an ongoing investigation, but GBH News has learned that Matthew Dugan, hired in late October as Madison Park’s number two administrator, was fired in November for allegedly collecting student passwords and photos from their social media accounts and saving them to his computer.
Dugan, a veteran of Boston Schools, received anational teaching award in 2007 for his work at Madison Park in Roxbury. He was 33 at the time.
"I'm not comfortable with saying anything about the accusations they're making against me," Dugan said when reached by phone Nov. 30. He said he had not been contacted by police before abruptly ending the brief interview.
The district launched an internal investigation earlier this fall when a Madison Park student received notification of a password change to an account that had not been requested. The student alerted the district’s IT staff, who traced the change to Dugan.
When IT personnel arrived at the school to confiscate his laptop, Dugan allegedly stomped on the device in front of students and adults. The computer was not destroyed. School officials eventually terminated his employment, because he had violated the district’s “acceptable use” policy for having unauthorized content on a city-owned device.
According to a copy of an Nov. 8 email obtained by GBH News, Madison Park Head of School Sidney Brown told staff that “Mr. Dugan will not be in the building until further notice.” That was only about three weeks after Dugan had started working in a new role as assistant head of school. Dugan previously worked at TechBoston Academy, a pilot school in Dorchester, and as a science teacher at Madison Park for 10th and 11th grade students.
IT staff who reviewed the content of Dugan’s laptop found a folder of downloaded material that led them to turn the laptop over to police.
Boston Public Schools spokesman Jonathan Palumbo said Brown, Madison Park’s principal, emailed families and staff to alert them that an employee had been removed. Brown also did not identify the employee, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters as well police involvement.
“Given the severity of the allegations, the matter was referred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities for further investigation,” Brown wrote in an email Nov. 24.
Boston Police said Dugan has not been charged with a crime and declined to say whether he is under investigation.
Dugan had been the recipient of a $25,000 Milken Educator Award for being an outstanding teacher at Madison Park. It was an honor granted to a select group of 80 educators across the country.
