LEWISTON — The principal of Robert V. Connors Elementary School has been placed on leave after he was served with a protection from abuse order for him to stay away from a woman who claims he assaulted her.
After a hearing in District Court in Wiscasset on Monday, Donald Ferrara Jr. was served with the protection order prohibiting him from having any contact with the Dresden woman who filed for the order.
According to the order itself, the court found that there was evidence finding that Ferrara has engaged in conduct described in the document as “sexual assault,” although no charges have been filed in the case and there do not appear to be any active investigations.
The order prohibits Ferrara from “threatening, assaulting, molesting, attacking, harassing, stalking or otherwise abusing the plaintiff,” according the court document.
Ferrara is likewise prohibited from being in the vicinity of the woman’s home, school, business or place of employment. The woman lists an address in Dresden.
By law, Ferrara was also ordered to turn over any weapons in his possession.
The court document does not provide details about the alleged harassment that led to the order being sought. According to a person close to the woman who filed for the order, the relationship dates back to 2012 when Ferrara was working at a Hallowell school where the woman, at the time a minor, was a student.
Ferrara has been an educator in Lewiston since 2012 when he was hired as a vice principal at the high school. Prior to that, he had been an assistant principal at Hall-Dale High School in Hallowell.
In 2018, he was nominated as interim principal for both Longley and Martel elementary schools. He was later named principal at Connors Elementary after the departure of Principal Sara Sims.
Lewiston School Superintendent Jake Langlais said that Ferrara has been placed on paid administrative leave as the matter is being investigated.
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