Jason Talley reports from talley.tv:
On Thursday MaryEllen McGorry was suspended from her duties as the principal of Manchester High School West. Now the Union Leader is reporting that her secretary, Denise Michael, has also been suspended and is under investigation. That is all the information that school superintendent Tom Brennan is willing to release to the public at the moment, according to the UL:
MANCHESTER — The secretary of suspended Manchester High School West principal MaryEllen McGorry has been placed on administrative leave, Superintendent Tom Brennan said.
Denise Michael will be on paid leave until an investigation is completed, Brennan said.
He would not give reasons nor say whether the suspension has anything to do with McGorry’s suspension, which took place last week.
Brennan said Julie Moore of Employment Practices Group is handling the investigation into the McGorry matter. Her rate is $250 an hour.
I first heard of McGorry and Michael when looking into the alleged wiretapping case the State made against my friend and fellow Motorhome Diaries crew member Ademo Freeman. Both women, and a Manchester law enforcer, were called and recorded in 2011 by Ademo while he was investigating the assault and arrest of a West High student by a Manchester law enforcer in the school’s cafeteria.
It is currently unknown what the suspension is about and if it has anything to do with Ademo but here is a September 4th report by the Union Leader which explains why Ademo was charged incorrectly and why public employees are on the record when they are on the job:
MANCHESTER — A lawyer has asked a judge to rethink the guilty verdict against Adam “Ademo” Mueller, the Free Stater convicted last month of illegal wiretapping.
In a court filing, Concord lawyer Brandon Ross said the law was applied incorrectly, and Mueller should have been convicted of a misdemeanor, if anything. He also said Mueller, the co-founder of the police-monitoring CopBlock.org website, has a constitutional right to make sure the taped individuals — police Capt. Jon Hopkins, West High principal MaryEllen McGorry and a school secretary — are accountable to the public.
“It is unconstitutional to allow public employees to convert a privacy shield for citizens (the wiretap law) into a sword with which to attack citizen journalists for recording statements those public employees made while they were on the job and voluntarily interacting with the public,” Ross wrote.
Mueller was convicted of recording telephone conversations with the three about the 2011 take-down and arrest of a West High student in the school cafeteria.
Mueller, who represented himself at the trial, received a three-month sentence. Ross, who is taking his case pro bono, filed a motion Aug. 23 to set aside the verdict.
It was rejected on Aug. 28, and Ross said he will file a motion for reconsideration, then an appeal if necessary.
