NORTHAMPTON — The high school custodian charged with photographing girls using the toilet is no longer employed with the school, district officials said Wednesday.
Michael J. Kremensky, 22, of Florence, was put on paid leave last
He was released from custody over the weekend on $500 bail and appeared for his arraignment in Northampton District Court Monday morning where he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“Mr. Kremensky no longer works for Northampton Public Schools as of today,” Superintendent John A. Provost said Wednesday afternoon.
The paid administrative leave was three days long. Kremensky is a 2014 Northampton High School graduate, according to the district.
Provost said he could not speak about individual employees but said all employees and volunteers who may have direct and unmonitored contact with children need to pass state and federal background checks prior to working for the Northampton Public Schools.
At a regularly scheduled Northampton High School School Council meeting Wednesday, Principal Bryan Lombardi said that if police approached administrators to identify anyone in the alleged pictures, no male staff, including himself or the superintendent, would view them. He said any identification would likely be performed by a female member of the school’s guidance department.
Lombardi said no students would be pulled out of class to be notified that they had been surreptitiously photographed, though their parents might receive a call.
The council does not take public comment at its meetings, which got Wednesday’s session off to a rocky start when three parents showed up under the impression they would be allowed to ask questions about the incident.
Both Lombardi and Provost said they would be open to a meeting at which questions could be asked and answered, but no specific date was set.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.