St. Anne\u2019s, which has 305 students in preschool through eighth grade, fired Smith immediately after his arrest. This week, board president Harry Baetjer thanked police and prosecutors for winning a conviction and said the school community is focused on moving forward.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a relief obviously for the final steps to have happened,\u2019\u2019 said Baetjer, who would not comment on the merits of the state\u2019s deal with Smith.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least now there\u2019s closure, so we can now totally put the situation behind us and, as we have been since practically the moment Justin was arrested, to try to concentrate on the future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Baetjer said after Smith\u2019s arrest that St. Anne\u2019s officials found no red flags while vetting him for hire.\n <\/p>\n
But days later, WHYY News learned that Smith had alarmed some parents while running another private Christian school in Louisiana.\n<\/p>\n
While at the prestigious Southfield School from 2019 to 2021, which, like St. Anne\u2019s, educates preschoolers through eighth graders, Smith sent families an email, obtained by WHYY News, that included a porn actor\u2019s name and the word \u201cthreesome.\u201d He also had an affair with a female staff member amid accusations of lurid behavior inside the school, parents said.\n<\/p>\n
Smith later held leadership roles at two Christian schools in Florida.\n<\/p>\n
Baetjer\u2019s update in February said officials at the Louisiana school not only didn\u2019t inform St. Anne\u2019s about any problems with Smith, but that two references he provided from Southfield, as well as five others from Florida educational circles, gave \u201cglowing accolades\u201d about him.
\nSmith headed St. Anne\u2019s Episcopal School from July 2024 until his Jan. 31 arrest. (Google Maps)\n<\/p>\n
Southfield \u201cprovided service letters to two state agencies and a positive letter of reference to us. The employer expressed no concerns,\u2019\u2019 Baetjer wrote, adding that a St. Anne\u2019s trustee \u201cconfirmed the absence of concerns\u201d with two Southfield employees.\n<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the arrest and now the conviction, Novak said she still faults St. Anne\u2019s for hiring Smith. She\u2019s also taken her son and daughter, who is in pre-school, out of the school where tuition would have totaled nearly $40,000 this year for her two children.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m appalled at the school for putting him in charge,\u201d Novak said. \u201cNow, hearing from you, that he basically got a slap on the wrist, only solidifies my decision to leave St. Anne\u2019s.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.<\/em>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018At least now there\u2019s closure,\u2019 says St. Anne\u2019s board president St. Anne\u2019s, which has 305 students in preschool through eighth grade, fired Smith immediately after his arrest. This week, board president Harry Baetjer thanked police and prosecutors for winning a conviction and said the school community is focused on moving forward. \u201cIt\u2019s a relief obviously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11573],"tags":[3968,1923,8085,14827,3571,6991,1570,237,4830,6124,2522],"class_list":["post-27945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philadelphia-breaking-news","tag-abuse","tag-child","tag-del","tag-first-state-focus","tag-guilty","tag-leader","tag-pleads","tag-school","tag-sexual","tag-sharing","tag-videos"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/justin-lee-smith-cb-020625-1.jpg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Philadelphia Viral News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"\u2018At least now there\u2019s closure,\u2019 says St. Anne\u2019s board president St. Anne\u2019s, which has 305 students in preschool through eighth grade, fired Smith immediately after his arrest. 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