I came across this article and wonder how soon until suit is filed against WTS and/or elders involved in JC's?
The short of it: A high school reported a rape that occured in the school. Instead of calling the police (or even the campus police), the school officials had the girl write a report to detail what happened. In the meantime, they sent the accused boy home. By the time police were finally called, the boy had showered and washed his clothes thus destroying potential evidence. A few weeks later, criminal charges *may* be charged against the school officials for failure to report the incident.
Source: http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-the_opposite_of_zero_tolerance.html
The Opposite of Zero Tolerance
Yet another astounding story from the front lines -- our nation's schools.
From True's 28 November 2010 issue:
We Know What's Good For You (No. 7,639 In a Long Series)
With "zero tolerance" policies, schools are quick to call in police for even minor alleged infractions of their rules. Central High School in Muncie, Ind., went the other way: when a student came to the office to report she had been dragged into a school restroom and raped, school officials refused to call in the police -- not even the police detective at the school working security. Instead, the 16-year-old girl was told to write a report on the crime, and then sat for 2-1/2 hours waiting for a Youth Opportunity Center employee to come get her. The YOC worker wasn't informed of the nature of the call until she arrived; she took the girl to the hospital, and doctors there immediately called police. "There has to be some basis for which to notify the police," said school superintendent Eric King. "They are investigating to determine if there was an incident," hence the written report. A police investigator said the four-hour delay in getting detectives involved left "too big a chance of losing critical evidence." A prosecutor said he was "extremely uncomfortable" with the school trying to take on a criminal investigation by itself, and that the school had an "absolute duty under the law" to bring in the police. (RC/Muncie Star Press) ...They'll consider that request. Maybe.
There are some updates on the story. Police did find evidence of a crime, and (six days later) arrested the boy, who is being charged as an adult. The school told the boy that the girl had "changed her story" and he could go home! He did -- and took a shower and washed his clothes. "We lost any evidence that he had on him at that time," said Muncie Police Detective George Hopper. Of course, the boy "changed his story" himself when he talked with police, first denying everything, then later saying the sex was consensual. But he also admitted he had "crossed the line" with the girl, who resisted him. Police say when they talked to the girl, she didn't change her story at all. But yeah: no doubt she was embarrassed to have school officials interrogate her, and likely wasn't clear when answering the questions asked by self-appointed (and completely untrained, in a criminal investigation sense) school "investigators".
The police say flatly that school officials "have interfered with and delayed the investigation that is required by state law." Because of the delay in reporting the crime, other students used the restroom, trampling over any evidence there, too.
The Youth Opportunity Center is a "troubled children's center". The shocked caseworker took the girl to the hospital as soon as she discovered what was going on.
"I don't know that I can speak to the delay" in bringing in the police, said the school superintendent. "We are cooperating."
These are the people we're paying to educate our kids. If this is an example of the kind of "professional" school administrators we have, we have too many administrators. I'm guessing we could hire at least two teachers for what it costs for this kind of administrator. I do know there are good administrators out there too, but I'm wondering if this is a major part of the educational problem in this country: too many chiefs, not enough "Indians" (teachers) who do the actual educational tasks.
I'm betting you have something to say about this story too, so comments are open below.
December 4 Update
Lots of the commenters are wondering why criminal charges haven't been pursued against school officials. This morning, the Star Press is reporting that's in progress.
A grand jury was empaneled yesterday to look into the case, and specifically "told they might be asked to determine whether state law was violated in the response by [school] officials", rather than look into the alleged rape itself.
The incident occurred November 9, so it took nearly a month to impanel a Grand Jury to look into what was immediately obvious to me and my readers.