Officials at Damascus High School in suburban Maryland waited more than 12 hours to tell police about credible allegations that several junior-varsity football players pinned a teammate in a locker room, pulled his pants down and sexually assaulted him with a broomstick, interviews and documents show.
The school officials held off despite discussing among themselves in a group text message on Oct. 31 — seen by The Washington Post — the names of a victim and three possible assailants.
Instead of calling police, they launched their own inquiry and on Nov. 1, plucked students one-by-one from class as they questioned suspects, learned the names of three more victims and then took statements from those boys.
None of the victims was sent for medical care. All went back to classes without their parents being called...
...The delay in alerting police also runs counter to years of efforts to change school culture so that any suspicion of sexual abuse at school is quickly reported to authorities, following a spate of school cases, said Jennifer Alvaro, a longtime advocate on issues of sexual abuse prevention who has pushed for better policies in Montgomery.
A similar urgency is crucial amid allegations of sexual assault by students, which should be handled by trained professionals, she said, and schools should never launch their own investigations.
“They say they’re training people to immediately report,” she added. “But clearly that’s not happening.”..
Perhaps Senators Lee and Zirkin, and Delegate Atterbeary will wake and smell the coffee - and give our children a bill that truly addresses this situation.
ReplyDeleteWhat did they put in your coffee?
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