Emotions were high Monday night as residents were offered the chance to ask questions and get more information about what led to the arrest of a longtime, well-regarded middle school teacher.
“I’ve had a lot of interactions with Mr. Dyer … This incident has rocked my world,” said Kara Sassone, a mother to two rising freshman students. “… Never in a million years would I think this would be what I was hearing. I also want to say that families who are angry, who are mad, who are frustrated, have every right to be so.”
Leon Dyer, a Belmont Middle School teacher, pleaded not guilty to two counts of possession of child sexual abuse material on July 27.He posted bail and was released the same day. He’s next expected to appear in court on Sept. 17.
Dyer, 45, has lived in Belmont for more than a decade, his lawyer said during his arraignment at Cambridge District Court. According to prosecutors, the charges stem from two separate searches.
“I have lost trust in myself and my gut,” said Sassone. “I have sent my children on trips. I have sent my children to dances, to after-school activities, and never would I have guessed that this would be where I am today.”
In the wake of Dyer’s arrest, the town hosted a forum, offering members of the community a chance to ask questions. The forum was held both in person in the Town Hall auditorium and remotely, by Zoom. It was attended by parents, state officials –– including Sen. William Brownsberger –– and elected officials from the School Committee and Select Board.
The forum included a panel of 11 community leaders, including Superintendent Jill Geiser, Assistant Superintendent Lucia Sullivan, Human Capital Director Michael McAllister, Director of Technology Matt Kuzmeskas, and Belmont Middle School Principal Russ Kuperstein; as well as Police Chief Shane Smith, Detective Sgt. Paul Garabedian, School Resource Officer Evan Nichols, Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, and Lisa Gabelerio and Wendy Conroy from the Belmont Wellness Coalition.
“This particular incident has impacted our community very heavily,” said Geiser, welcoming a small crowd to Town Hall on Monday.
The longtime teacher was ordered by the judge to stay away from all public schools in Belmont and Camp Avoda, a boys’ overnight summer camp in Middleboro where he has been head counselor for more than 20 years. He was also barred from seeking employment or volunteering with anyone under the age of 18.
One member of the public, Jeremy Evans, cautioned against assigning guilt, noting Dyer has not been convicted yet.
Parents asked questions about the investigation and whether images of Belmont students taken at a variety of school functions were compromised. Officials emphasized there was no information to suggest this, but that State Police were still investigating. They also asked how they should talk to their kids about the incident and whether, or how, the school plans to do so when students return to the classroom in a few weeks. One parent noted different approaches may be needed for different students, depending on age and impact. They asked what support will be offered to teachers and staff.
“We love the staff at Belmont Middle School … I’m sure this was as much of a shock to them as it is to us,” said Kim Goodman, whose son is entering ninth grade this fall.
Geiser said while plans for talking to staff and students have not yet been “mapped out,” there will be discussions and the schools will rely on community partners for that, indicating support from the Belmont Wellness Coalition.
Responding to concerns over the cut to the health education program at the Chenery Upper Elementary School, Sullivan said those lessons are accessible to students through other avenues, such as gym classes and the nursing office. A “robust” health education, then, is available to them in later grades.
In an effort to help provide context to the investigation and answer questions around the timeline, Police Chief Shane Smith said the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children received approximately 21.3 million reports nationwide in 2025. Across the country, he explained, there are 61 task forces looking into reports of inappropriate online activity, one of which is located in Massachusetts. That task force is run by Massachusetts State Police.
“From the time Mass State Police was notified of this, it was 13 days later he was arrested. … They moved extremely fast,” Smith said. “They used a significant amount of resources, including an airwing, to locate the subject. But they have to vet everything, too.”
Smith said State Police average between 50 and 70 tips a day to sort through.
“When they did the search and saw this person could be so close to children, they expedited it,” he said.
Garabedian, a detective with Belmont Police, said in response to community questions about cameras hidden in the school that Dyer may have had access to, the Belmont Police Department plans to deploy electronic-sniffing dogs in the building this week. The dogs have been provided by the State Police, he said.
Kim Haley-Jackson, chair of the Human Rights Commission, asked Geiser about school policy regarding school hiring.
“I know that’s kind of touchy, because we’re talking about people’s personal lives,” she said.
Geiser said there are guardrails in place, including multiple rounds of interviews, a minimum of three references, a social media scrape, and a CORI (criminal offender record information) check required for hiring. McAllister added CORI checks are limited to Massachusetts criminal records. His department also requires a Statewide Automated Fingerprint Identification System, which covers arrests outside Massachusetts and is connected to the FBI fingerprint database.
Repeat CORI checks are then conducted every three years. McAllister noted Dyer’s last CORI check was completed in November.
“We don’t know what people are doing when they go home,” Haley-Jackson said. “There’s no comfort in this.”
Regarding whether any complaints had been filed with the district in recent years about Dyer’s behavior, there was some discrepancy between statements from school officials and remarks from parents who spoke, with the former denying any complaints had been received regarding Dyer. One parent who spoke said she regretted not relaying complaints to officials that she’d heard in recent years.
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“I understand that in hindsight in these cases, you look at ‘Well, what was that; what was this?’,” Geiser said. “If there is anything you want to report, we’ll take that information and look into it, but I would encourage us to think about this more in terms of what’s happening right now and how do we move forward?”
