The discovery process in the Duncan Ververs case has revealed Brighton’s checkered commitment to keeping students safe. We see evidence of this lapsed commitment in a February 2001 letter that then-BCSD Superintendent Henry Peris wrote to Bart Zabin of the NYS Education Department’s Teacher Discipline Unit.
Though Peris did his due diligence in reporting Ververs to the Department, and though he urged them to “investigate this matter in an expedient fashion,” we see no evidence that the district came clean by reporting the matter to the larger Brighton community. If BCSD had done so, community members could have taken steps to protect children from a known predator. Given Ververs’ history, it is possible, if not probable, that he went on to target other children after his dismissal from BCSD.
The letter, which appears in Ververs’ Brighton personnel file, reads in part as follows:
“In November 2000, the District received several complaints against Mr. Ververs from female students for conduct that constituted sexual harassment. The complaints involved: (1) inappropriate comments to female students regarding their appearance, "lovelives", clothes and physical attributes; (2) inappropriate comments to male students regarding the appearance and physical attributes of female students; and (3) inappropriate touching of female students such as hugs, touching a student's cheek, diagraming soccer plays with his hands on a female student's thighs and placing a clipboard in a female student's lap and writing on it.
The District investigated the matter and determined that the students’ allegations were credible. A counseling memorandum regarding the matter was placed in Mr. Ververs' file and he agreed to participate in counseling…
During the course of its investigation into these complaints, the District was provided with the names of two individuals who had been participants in a gymnastics club run by Mr. Ververs through the Town of Brighton Recreation Department. Mr. Ververs operated the program in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the time of their participation in the program, both individuals were minors. Approximately three years ago, both women had separately informed a third party that during the time they were in the program, Mr. Ververs had engaged in inappropriate conduct with them of a sexual nature. One case involved a long-term sexual relationship…
After completing her investigation, [BCSD attorney Laura] Purcell determined that even though the alleged conduct occurred in the 1970s and early 1980s, the claimants were credible and corroborating information supported their claims. Ms. Purcell also determined that most of the allegations involved criminal acts.
As such, I confronted Mr. Ververs with these allegations on Friday, February 2, 2001, specifically naming Ms. _______ and Ms. _______.
Pursuant to the District's collective bargaining agreement with the Brighton Teachers' Association, I removed Mr. Ververs from all professional responsibilities which included teaching, coaching the girls' gymnastics team and serving as an advisor for a student club…
Mr. Ververs neither admitted nor denied the allegations and did not present any information to the District for its consideration. Instead, he chose to resign from the District for the purpose of retirement effective February 7, 2001. The Board of Education approved his resignation on Tuesday, February 13, 2001.
Both Ms. _______ and Ms. _______ are aware that I am making this report to you as required by law and are willing to speak with you about this matter. I ask that you contact our attorney, Laura Purcell, at (xxx) xxx-xxxx to obtain their contact information. While the conduct involving these four individuals occurred a number of years ago, I believe that the allegations involved in the more recent sexual harassment complaint demonstrate that Mr. Ververs is still engaging in inappropriate conduct with female students. As such, I urge you to investigate this matter in an expedient fashion.
Sincerely,
Henry J. Peris”