WATERVILLE — The Board of Education voted 6-1 Monday night to dismiss Waterville Senior High School Principal Don Reiter, who is accused of asking a student for sex on Aug. 27.

Earlier Monday, the Waterville Police Department reopened its investigation of Reiter because two of his former high school students in New Hampshire alleged inappropriate relationships with him when he taught in New Ipswich.

One student said she had sex with Reiter during her senior year at Mascenic Regional High School or just after she graduated. The other said she had an inappropriate relationship with him, and police were given 147 pages of letters purportedly from Reiter referring to the relationship, said Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey.

The decision to reopen the investigation was made public shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, about five hours before the Waterville Board of Education voted to dismiss Reiter.

At the start of its meeting, the board rejected a suggestion by the school district’s attorney to reopen evidence in the case related to Monday’s new information, and instead went into a 90-minute executive session.

When the board came out, Chairman Sara Sylvester made the motion to dismiss Reiter based on the board’s findings. In a show of hands, she and board members Elizabeth Bickford, Tiffany LaLiberty, Pamela Trinward, Joan Phillips-Sandy and Maryanne Bernier voted to dismiss.

Board member Susan Reisert was the lone opponent, receiving a smattering of applause from the audience. The board then immediately voted to adjourn.

After the hearing, Reiter’s attorney, Gregg Frame, said that he and Reiter want to know the details of the allegations from New Hampshire. Frame hoped the board didn’t consider them in its decision, because even alluding to those allegations had “tainted the process a bit” and the board could not “unhear” the new accusations.

Reiter has 30 days to appeal, Frame said.

“I’ll sit down with my client, and we’ll consider that,” Frame said.

Reiter, who earns about $102,000 a year as principal and has been on paid administrative leave, showed no emotion when the board voted to dismiss him.

More than 100 teachers, principals, students, parents and others, including Mayor Nick Isgro, City Manager Michael Roy and local lawyers, attended Monday’s hearing at the George J. Mitchell School.

Frame strongly urged the board to reconsider evidence in light of the new allegations, which were “totally new to us.”

“If there’s new information, it needs to be brought forward,” he said. “We need to know what that new information is – transparency – and Don Reiter, as a matter of due process, needs to have the opportunity to respond to that new information.”

At 5:30 p.m. Monday, the school board voted 7-0 not to reopen the evidence in the hearing and went into executive session to consider whether to fire Reiter or return him to the job.

Waterville police Detective Sgt. Bill Bonney went to New Ipswich on Friday and spoke with the student who alleges she had a sexual relationship with Reiter.

Bonney also spoke with another student who alleges Reiter had an inappropriate relationship with her when she was 17. Bonney spoke with that woman’s mother, Massey said in a statement Monday afternoon.

The mother confirmed the relationship based on letters written to that student, allegedly by Reiter, when she was at the high school, Massey said.

On Saturday, Bonney received 147 pages of those letters, which appear to be from Reiter, based on his name appearing on the address line, to the then-17-year-old. The letters frequently refer to his love for her and their “‘taboo’ relationship, a kiss that they shared and other very personal comments,” according to the Waterville police statement.

Reiter, 44, of Mount Vernon, is accused of calling a student into his Waterville Senior High School office Aug. 27 and asking her for sex.

Melissa Hewey, attorney for the school district, said last week at a dismissal hearing for Reiter that he said to the student, “Every year I choose one student to have sex with, and this year I’ve picked you.”

Waterville Superintendent Eric Haley placed Reiter on administrative leave with pay Sept. 1. At the hearing, Frame said the school board needed the chance to look at all the evidence and then make a decision, and the evidence should be reopened. He said the board had read the newspaper reports referencing the new allegations.

“We can’t be engaging in a whisper campaign here,” he said.

Reached Monday, Mascenic School District Superintendent Ruthann Goguen read a prepared statement: “We are unable to comment on personnel matters of past or present employees or on potential police investigations at this time.”

She confirmed that Reiter worked for the school district from 1998 to 2004, first as a social studies teacher and then as assistant principal at Mascenic Regional High School. Reiter was principal of Buckfield High School for three years before coming to Waterville Senior High in May 2007.

Reiter’s wife, Terri, filed for divorce two weeks after Reiter was placed on leave and asked that the court filing be kept confidential, but a District Court judge ruled that the paperwork was public.

Haley and Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot conducted an investigation into the allegations and on Oct. 7 Haley recommended to the board that Reiter be dismissed.

The board held dismissal hearings in the case over two days last week. Reiter could have asked for a closed hearing but decided to have it in public.

Most of the two-day hearing was held in private. The brief public portion included opening statements and testimony by three character witnesses for Reiter.

The board’s official hearing officer, Bryan Dench, also the attorney for the board, said federal and state law mandates that student records and anything derived from student records that could identify a student must be kept confidential.

Waterville police conducted a separate investigation into the allegations and on Sept. 25 forwarded their report to the Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Maeghan Maloney has said she will wait to make a decision about what to do with the case until after the Waterville Board of Education makes its decision.

Earlier, Frame said if the board voted to dismiss Reiter, he would file an appeal in Kennebec County Superior Court within 30 days, and at that time the paperwork related to the hearings would become public with the name of the student who made the allegations kept private.

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