BOSTON (AP) - Officials at the New England Conservatory say they will not rehire renowned conductor Benjamin Zander - who was fired last month for hiring a convicted sex offender to video record a youth orchestra - despite a long letter urging his reinstatement from Zander's legal scholar brother and a former Harvard University president.

The letter signed by Michael Zander and former Harvard President Neil Rudenstine - the Zanders' brother-in-law - acknowledges that Benjamin Zander made a mistake in hiring the sex offender, but that it did not warrant his firing.

The letter was sent to the music school's trustees.

Michael Zander tell The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/z5ogrH) that the letter was sent without his brother's knowledge.

The trustees said in a statement that Benjamin Zander showed "extraordinarily poor judgment" and compromised the safety of students.