defamation

[obrax]

I am a principal of a government owned school. I received a letter from a parent alleging that a teacher from my school detained his daughter(a 13yr old) for one week at his house and while searching for her, a friend of the daughter led him to teachers house were the daughter was found locked up... However, upon my own investigation, i discovered that such a teacher was and is not an employee of the school.
P.S.
The so called teacher is at large
The letter i received was addressed to the commissioner of police and i was copied
The daughter (who is no longer a student of the school) did not show signs that she was forced
The man has informed other parents who are threatening to withdraw their kids from the school.
Am confused and i dont know how to reply the letter.
Thanks in anticipation of your help

 

[Michael Wechsler]

If you're the principal of the school, obviously you have many concerned parents. I'd be sure that you have means to be able to contact the government and speak to one of their attorneys. They need to be notified about what could be a potential lawsuit. They will probably be able to assist you with communicating with parents. If the man / suspect was never a teacher of the school, then the issue of what to say is probably clear -- the accusations were made against a person who was not and is not an employee of the school. (I assume also not a consultant.) As such, there shouldn't be a reason to fear since no one in your employ at the school was responsible and this is an unrelated third party (still assuming.) What is strange is why this parent would allege that the man was a teacher at the school. Did he have access to the school? Was he on the school premises? Is he a parent or relation of one of the students or faculty? This would make the statements we discussed more challenging and why speaking to the attorney or firm representing the government or municipality will probably be the likely way to go. Good luck - what a horrible experience!