Fahey supporters say his firing a 'witch hunt'

Aug. 3—ANDOVER — More than two dozen people spoke for about an hour and a half in defense of former Andover Youth Services Director Bill Fahey at Monday night's Select Board meeting.

Multiple people called the newly released report detailing the town's reasons for firing Fahey a "witch hunt." Ruby Nieves of Andover told a story about Martha Carrier, the town's first accused witch drawing a comparison to Fahey.

"The Selectmen of Andover ignored Carrier's claims of innocence where she proclaimed 'you lied, I'm wronged,' the Selectmen of Andover did not investigate the process in which she was tried or even accused," Nieves said, asking why the town hadn't come farther in the past 330 years.

Overall, people were dissatisfied by who investigator Regina Ryan of Discrimination and Harassment Solutions spoke to in the course of the investigation and the conclusions drawn by Ryan that Fahey should face repercussions up to and including termination. Ryan's report detailed a consistent pattern of overstepping professional boundaries, which led Town Manager Andrew Flanagan to recently state that the town will conduct a review of the department in the wake of Fahey's termination.

Many residents and former participants said the findings of the investigation were a normal part of Fahey's job that he held for decades and what made Andover Youth Services a special place.

Suzie Allen, a former participant turned full-time employee until 2009, said Fahey's approach had success with helping her and others seek out services and get help because of the "genuine" connection built on the trust he and other AYS staff were able to cultivate, especially through training which she was involved in.

"One evening after a youth council meeting in town hall, Bill pointed out to me that I seemed down, withdrawn and wasn't participating like I used to. This simple gesture opened the door to me acknowledging that I needed help despite me previously resisting help from teachers, parents and clergy," Allen said. "Bill got my parents and my AHS guidance counselor involved but it was through the many conversations with Bill that I realized in order to reach my goals I needed to start going to therapy and to implement the things that the therapist said to do."

She added, "If Bill had simply closed the door after that meeting because he was afraid to talk with a struggling teen, my journey to health would have been a lot longer and more dangerous."

Gio Coppola of Andover, who is a former participant turned staff member, similarly agreed that the preventative work with children and building relationships on a day-to-day basis were the most important things.

"Young people need to feel seen, heard and met where they are at, which is what we do at AYS every day," Coppola said.

Multiple people also took issue with how the town portrayed details of the report, including how Fahey allegedly showed pornography of a former employee to her parents.

"He did it to help her," Allen said, reiterating Fahey didn't take pleasure in it.

The town's attorney said the former youth director admitting to showing the video to the woman — who was an adult living on her own at the time — was enough to fire him.

While Fahey denied the claims originally, "later when he was confronted with the statement if he brought it he said 'he may have,'" said Leonard Kesten, who is representing the town in a lawsuit filed by Fahey. Fahey's lawyer Daniel Murphy previously said Fahey denied those claims as well.