Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By MITCH MORRISON; Times Leader Staff Writer
Saturday, January 23, 1993 Page: 3A QUICK WORDS: ROBERT LEAKE — ALLEGED
HARASSER
WILKES-BARRE — A Wilkes-Barre Area custodian, suspended last spring after
he allegedly wrote sexually harassing letters to two elementary school faculty
members, will not be permitted to work in buildings with students or teachers
inside.
Assistant Superintendent Thomas Rushton reaffirmed the district’s position
Friday after several parents from Kistler Elementary School responded to a
report on the Fred Williams radio show (WILK-AM) that custodian Robert Leake
had been working at both Kistler and Meyers High School.
Thomas Rushton said Leake, 25, son of school board member Dolores Seacrist,
had worked for a couple of days at Kistler during the holiday break when no
students or teachers were inside the building. He also worked briefly at
Meyers to replace some light bulbs, Rushton said.
Nonetheless, Thomas Rushton said he planned to meet with Leake’s
supervisors in the district’s building and grounds to review Leake’s future
assignments.
Leake has spent most of the year working at Plains Memorial Stadium and
Wilkes-Barre Township Junior High School, which was shut down as a school two
years ago. The district is converting the township building for a mixed use
facility to include administrative offices and community space for township
residents.
Leake was suspended without pay last April and was ordered by the school
board to undergo counseling. He was reinstated in mid-May.
At that time, board member Mike Rushton, who is a distant relative of
Thomas Rushton, assured concerned citizens that Leake “won’t be around
teachers or kids, believe me.”
On Friday, Mike Rushton said that promise has been kept despite Leake’s
brief stints at Meyers and Kistler.
“He has no contact with kids, and kids have no contact with him,” Mike
Rushton said. “If he’s working inside, he’s working inside the boiler room.”
Mike Rushton said Leake continues to receive counseling and has had no
encounters with faculty or students since the suspension.
Mickie Ostrum, president of Kistler’s Parent Teachers Organization (PTO),
said she was satisfied by the administration assurances that Leake would not
work around students. She said she had received about 10 calls Friday from
concerned parents concerning the radio report.
H
e has no contact with kids, and kids have no contact with him.
Mike Rushton
School board member