The Principal should have been made to take that little girl back to every class and apologize to her publicly so all the kids would know that the little girl is, in fact, innocent, and admit that she was wrong.
The Rev. Lowell Meek, school board president, repeatedly tried to explain the district's policy for such investigations and that proper procedures must be followed. Meek announced at the start of the meeting that, "The board received a report during executive session today" about the incident and that "the district has thoroughly investigated and handled (the incident) appropriately." He failed to say how the incident was being handled. But White wanted to know how the district protected his daughter's rights at the time of the accusation. "What about my daughter?" White asked, incredulous. "She didn't get an investigation. She didn't even get five minutes." Tom DeRosa, a parent and a Forward Township supervisor, chastised the board for waiting too long to hear about the investigation. "What is the policy for the board to get information from the school?" DeRosa asked. "The board is not informed until the administration has investigated the report," Meek replied. "So, if you had a child molester in the school, it would take six weeks (for the board to find out)?" DeRosa shot back. District Solicitor Andrew Evankovich explained that investigations into all school matters are conducted by the administration - in this case, by Mueller. "Sometimes, it does take a matter of weeks," Evankovich said. "In a situation where there could be employee discipline, these matters are left to the district administration to determine. "Often these matters never reach the board in case the board has to sit in on a case that may involve termination." DeRosa then asked how long it would take to expel a student who brought a weapon to school. "Would that student be in school the next day?" DeRosa asked. Meek said such a student would not be in school the next day. "But you can have an employee who is a danger to the kids and let (that employee) stay in school," DeRosa said. "You guys did a terrible job here." Another parent, Timothy McMeans, said he closely read the district's policy for discipline and said he did not find anything that gave Whitby the right to do what she did to the little girl. "Is there a section that gives the principal the right to take a student from class to class and say the student is a liar and a thief?" McMeans asked. "You will not find that in our policy," Meek assured McMeans. "That's why this matter was investigated by the school district and appropriate action was taken." However, Meek refused to say what that "appropriate action" was, citing the district's policy of not speaking publicly about employee discipline.