A 15-page letter sent to the home of Middletown Superintendent Dr. Michael Conner last week is now at the center of a police investigation.
“It’s something that we are taking very seriously,” Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim said.
The letter written by Roger Passavant includes quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. and lyrics to the song, “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. Conner called the note on Twitter a hate crime “packet.”
“Threatening was not the threshold that it reached from a criminal standpoint, but it was not a pleasant message, it was not a love note,” Florsheim said.
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Florsheim said while there was no direct threat made, it’s the letter’s intent that’s under investigation.
Passavant and Conner have a history. In 2018, Conner expelled a student who worked for Passavant after that student waived a confederate flag outside of Middletown High School. Middletown police later said there was no probable cause to arrest the student.
Since then, Passavant, who declined to speak with NBC Connecticut on camera today, said he has sent Conner several letters to Middletown Public Schools administrative offices before. The reason he sent the most recent letter to Conner’s home was because of Conner’s leave of absence from his position.
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Conner and two other top Middletown Public Schools administrators are under investigation by the Board of Education after allegations raised last October by district and city employees about retaliation, mistreatment, and conditions creating a hostile work environment.
Florsheim said while the results from both investigations are pending, he wants people to know their safety in his city is top priority.
“That is something that cannot and will not be tolerated; harassment, intimidation of public officials of anybody it’s not something that we can use to determine public discourse to settle our public issues,” Florsheim said.
NBC Connecticut reached out to Conner, and he did not respond to a request for a comment before the time of air.
Passavant shared this statement with us stating, “I am not a racist and this was never meant as a hate crime. It was simply a friendly reminder based on his recent, poor behavior.”
Mayor Florsheim said the Middletown Police Department and the state’s attorney’s office are still working to determine if any charges will be filed against Passavant, and the Board of Education's investigation into the allegations against Conner are in the final phases.
