BANGOR, Maine — A Bangor High School math teacher charged in October with unlawful sexual contact was fired at Wednesday night’s school committee meeting, Superintendent Betsy Webb said in a statement released Thursday.
James McHenry, 48, is accused of touching the genitals of an underaged person at an off-school location.
“The Bangor School Committee voted to dismiss James McHenry,” Webb said. “The School Committee concluded that Mr. McHenry is unfit to teach based on his interactions with a minor off school grounds. Further, the committee found that the teacher’s continued employment would be unprofitable to the Bangor School Department.”
The Bangor School Committee held a special meeting Tuesday night to address the situation in executive session, and Bangor attorney Jeffrey Silverstein, who is representing McHenry, was in attendance, as were others who spoke to the board behind closed doors.
A message seeking comment from Silverstein on Thursday was not immediately returned.
McHenry entered a not guilty plea to the charge against him on Wednesday.
“He’s charged with a misdemeanor,” Penobscot County Deputy District Attorney Michael Roberts said Wednesday.
“My client denies any sexual component of this,” Silverstein said Wednesday.
He said the person who reported the crime was a student at Bangor High School but no longer attends the school. He and Roberts declined to comment further on the case.
A dispositional conference is scheduled for January, and McHenry faces a possible penalty of up to a year in jail, if convicted.