Principal Fired for Failing to Report Sex Assault Case

The New York Times ^ | April 13, 2005 | JAMES DAO

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A high school principal in Columbus, Ohio, has been fired and three assistant principals suspended without pay because they failed to notify the police last month about accusations that a 16-year-old special-education student had been sexually assaulted in the school auditorium by a group of boys, one of whom videotaped the incident, school officials said yesterday.

The principal and her assistants not only failed to report the incident but also urged the girl's father to avoid calling the police out of concerns that reporters would become aware of the assault, according to statements given to school investigators.

The police are investigating four teenagers in connection with the incident, a spokeswoman for the Columbus police, Sherry Mercurio, said yesterday, but no charges have been filed.

"It's an alleged assault that we're looking into," Ms. Mercurio said.

A spokesman for the school district declined to say whether the boys, whose names were not released, had been suspended. The boys, all younger than 18, were not at school yesterday, he said.

One of the three assistant principals, Richard Watson, said he had found the videotape and then viewed it with other administrators. Their conclusion, they told investigators, was that there had been no coercion.

The district released statements this week from an inquiry that described a chaotic, vacillating response to the girl's complaint and an overarching concern about the tape by the top administrators at the 835-student building, Mifflin High School, on the northeastern side of the city. The district's investigation into the incident, which occurred on the afternoon of March 9, was first reported by The Columbus Dispatch.

One witness's statement said a boy pulled the girl onto the auditorium stage, ordered her to be quiet, pushed her to her knees and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

"If you scream, I'll have all my boys punch you," the boy told her and then hit her in the face, causing her mouth to bleed, a student told the investigators.

The girl told a special-education teacher minutes after the incident that she had been forced to have oral sex with two boys behind a curtain on the stage while at least two others watched. She said the boys stopped only after someone arrived in the auditorium and scared them off.

The girl, who has a speech defect, "just kept saying she was scared," the special-education teacher told the investigators.

Another special-education teacher, Lisa Upshaw, told the investigators that administrators did not call the girl's father immediately after learning about the attack.

When Mrs. Upshaw took it upon herself to call the father, Mr. Watson urged him not to come pick up his daughter until after the end of the school day "to avoid a confrontation with the suspects," Mrs. Upshaw told the investigators.

When the father arrived, he asked whether the school administration was going to call the police, Mrs. Upshaw said in her statement. "Mr. Watson said, 'No, we don't want to do that. We don't want the police,' " she told the investigators.

The father then stepped into the hallway and called the police on his cellphone.

Mr. Watson and other administrators told investigators that the principal, Regina B. Crenshaw, had also advised the father to avoid calling the police, the investigation report says. Mrs. Crenshaw recommended that the father return the next morning and report the incident to a police officer who was usually stationed at the school but who was not there on March 9, the report added.

"Do not call the police; let our officer handle it tomorrow, and you will be happy with the results," Mr. Watson said Mrs. Crenshaw told the father, the investigation report says.

Mrs. Crenshaw then saw the father out of the school and left for the day, several administrators said in their statements. That evening, the father returned with the police, who inspected the auditorium. After Mrs. Crenshaw learned that the police had begun an investigation, she notified her superiors about the incident, according to the investigation report.

Mrs. Crenshaw, who had worked for the district since 1980 and had been the principal at Mifflin for a year, did not return calls to her home. Mr. Watson declined to comment.

In his statement to investigators, Mr. Watson said he had told the father not to call 911 out of concerns that the police dispatcher's radio calls would be picked up by television news reporters, which might cause the girl "further mental trauma." But he said he did not try to dissuade the father from calling the police on a nonemergency line.

Mr. Watson and two other assistant principals, Suzie Retterer-Helfrich and Vincent D. Clarno, were suspended without pay. They will be reassigned when they return to work on Tuesday, a spokesman for the school system, Andrew Marcelain, said.

"You failed to demonstrate the leadership required of a Columbus Public Schools building administrator by your evident disregard for the victim's safety and lack of sensitivity to both the victim and parent," Superintendent Gene T. Harris wrote in letter to the assistant principals notifying them of their suspensions.

Ms. Retterer-Helfrich said in an interview yesterday that she was not involved in the deliberations over how to handle the girl's complaint because she had been administering a test at the time.

Mr. Clarno could not be reached.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"Persistently dangerous" - School-safety rankings - or just black marks?***....At the heart of the discrepancy may well be a reluctance on the part of educators to report campus crime fully. A survey by the National Association of School Resource Officers found that 89 percent of school police believe crime is already underreported. "It's the scarlet letter in education today," says Mr. Trump. "Administrators have said to me privately that they would rather be academically failing than be a dangerous school." ...***

[coconutt2000]

The principal and her assistants not only failed to report the incident but also urged the girl's father to avoid calling the police out of concerns that reporters would become aware of the assault, according to statements given to school investigators.

This says it all. The principal wanted to keep her record clean, and would've sacrificed justice and human dignity and decency to keep it clean.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Imagine what else happens in this and other schools?

[rrrod]

Jail time for all..including the scumbag admins that tried to cover this up.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Mr. Watson and two other assistant principals, Suzie Retterer-Helfrich and Vincent D. Clarno, were suspended without pay. They will be reassigned when they return to work on Tuesday, a spokesman for the school system, Andrew Marcelain, said.

Janitor would be a nice job

[Cincinatus' Wife]

All they'll do is rotate the incompetent. Nothing will change.

Imagine! These students felt free to do this!

That pretty much says it all.

[coconutt2000]

I know for a fact that schools prefer to handle as much of the stuff internally, for reasons that a large percentage of allegations are probably proven to be false.

But serious allegations involving sexual assault, physical threats of violence, and other criminal behavior should be elevated directly to the police, with the real and official consequences of bringing false charges.

[cyborg]

You'd be shocked and amazed at what goes on. One of my sister's friends told her about gang sodomy in the boy's bathroom,etc.etc.etc. The father did the right thing.

[Iris7]

This stuff is a felony, "accessory after the fact". A prison term is in order for all those concealing evidence.

[demsRevil]

All they'll do is rotate the incompetent. Nothing will change.

Imagine! These students felt free to do this!

That pretty much says it all.




Just like cardinal Law...

[cyborg]

A slap on the wrist, maybe resigns and will be moved around just like Law. These people should SUFFER severe and SWIFT consequences NOT shifted around. This girl has been traumatised and maybe for life on top of her challenges of disabilities. Enablers of sex abusers are the lowest of the low.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Just coverin' their @$$3$.

[G.Mason]

"... "Do not call the police; let our officer handle it tomorrow, and you will be happy with the results," Mr. Watson said Mrs. Crenshaw told the father, the investigation report says."

But of course. What were they going to do, give the father a copy of the video for a souvenir?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Perhaps she was buying time to destroy evidence.

[RightOnline]

Words fail.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I know what you mean.

[G.Mason]

"Perhaps she was buying time to destroy evidence."

I'm afraid I must go along with RightOnline and say ... Words fail. :(

[csvset]

Their conclusion, they told investigators, was that there had been no coercion.

Well, I suppose the " adults " concluded she was "getting her freak on ", eh?

The whole lot of them should be tried for the criminals that they are.

[FreedomPoster]

Earlier thread on this story (200+ posts, mostly expressions of outrage):

Witnesses: Disabled Girl Punched In Face, Forced To Perform Sex Acts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1382434/posts

[AD from SpringBay]

The assistant principal was a woman? Thank you feminism! If this were my daughter there would be something in the story about how the principal is expected to recover from her injuries.