Head of School John Palfrey notified the Andover community last Friday that Dr. Richard Keller, former Medical Director, left his position at Andover in May 2011 for reasons unrelated to his arrest on September 13 for alleged receipt of child pornography. Keller is currently being held in jail as he awaits his detention hearing, which is scheduled to take place today, according to “The Boston Globe.” On Wednesday, Keller signed an agreement with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine that he would stop practicing medicine until the Board takes further action, according to the Globe. The Academy informed Keller in April 2011 that his annual contract would not be renewed because of “professional misconduct unrelated to the charges Keller faces from the U.S. Attorney’s’ office,” wrote Palfrey in an e-mail to students, faculty and parents. Keller announced his resignation shortly thereafter, on May 24, 2011, according to a previous article in The Phillipian. “We have no reason to believe that any of our students were involved in, or affected by, Dr. Keller’s alleged criminal behavior,” wrote Palfrey in his e-mail to the community. The school decided not to renew Keller’s contract because of multiple instances of professional misconduct. Palfrey outlined these circumstances in his e-mail: “In 1999, Dr. Keller was reprimanded for using an academy computer to access pornography involving adult subjects. In 2002, Dr. Keller was reprimanded for showing an inappropriate cartoon to students. Dr. Keller was also cited for poor management and poor judgment, which led the school to place him on administrative probation in 2009. In 2010, Dr. Keller sent an inappropriate voicemail message to a colleague at the school.” Palfrey’s e-mail continued: “Dr. Keller subsequently claimed that the school had discriminated against him. The school investigated Dr. Keller’s claim and determined it to be groundless. Upon conclusion of that investigation, the school informed Dr. Keller that his contract would not be renewed for violating his administrative probation.” The Phillipian previously reported that Keller left the school to focus on raising a family and to seek new professional opportunities.
