OJR speaks out on sexual abuse in schools

SOUTH COVENTRY » “Heartbreak,” “disappointed,” “disturbing” and “shame.”

Those were among the adjectives used by those discussing the arrest of a longtime Owen J. Roberts High School teacher on charges of sexual assault — a behavior many said the administration had been warned about, and ignored, multiple times in recent years.

The comments came during a Monday online Owen J. Roberts School Board meeting attended, digitally, by nearly 200 people.

The trigger for the comments was the May 7 arrest by state police of Stephen E. Raught, 53, who, among other duties, was the longtime advisor to the student government at the high school, as well as president of the Roberts Education Association teachers union.

The charges came after a 17-year-old female student, told police in March that Raught had taken her to his classroom when she had stopped by the school to pick up a textbook. Inside, he began kissing and fondling her, then engaged in oral sex with her through her clothing as she sat on a countertop.

After news of the arrest spread through the community, 43 former students who had served on the school’s student government over the years crafted a May 10 letter to the school board taking the district to task for ignoring earlier warnings and complaints about Raught’s behavior and calling for definitive steps to better protect students.

As of Monday, more than 880 people in the community had added their signature to the letter, according to alum Molly Graham, who was permitted to read the entire letter into the record at Monday’s school board meeting.

But before she read the letter, Graham addressed the May 11 letter to the

community issued by Superintendent Susan Lloyd which began with the sentence “I think I can speak for us all when I say that we are shocked by the grave recent developments in our district. “

“I’m sorry to say, but there are many women in this community you cannot speak for,” said Graham.

“Owen J. Roberts graduates going back to 2004 have come forward and described both their experiences of sexual assault within the Owen J. Roberts halls, and how the administration has dismissed them and failed them,” said Graham.

“Even though we may never know the full scope of this individual’s inappropriate actions towards students over the years, we already know that this faculty member’s unprofessional behavior was no secret in our community,” read part of the letter.

Reaction to the arrest among former students “have many of us thinking about whether this could have been prevented. Was a pattern of misbehavior ignored? Should we have spoken up?” the letter’s authors wrote.

“The truth is that students did speak up. This teacher’s inappropriate actions were reported and dismissed time and again,” the letter read. “In one instance, a student said, “I reported it to admin and was told ‘you took that the wrong way.’”

“This is personal for so many people,” said East Nantmeal resident Aubrey Stuber, who is one of the 43 authors of the letter.

“I have now personally heard more stories than I would ever want to hear in a lifetime, let alone what we’ve experienced in a week,” said Stuber, adding that the stories of abuse and inappropriate behavior have entered her dreams and become nightmares.

“What is really going to move us to a better place is having the heart to recognize just what people went through,” Stuber said.

Tina Grant said one former teacher who tried to report Raught was instead subjected to questions about her mental stability, and “she was accused of being sexually inappropriate with a minor student, also painting her in a horrific light.”

Instead, “the school board moved to remove her from her position, without pay. And she stands for two years now with this hearing pending,” said Grant, adding that students and staff “have testified that none of the things she has been accused of have happened.”

The hearing delay has cost the teacher money and she “has been ruined financially,” Grant said.

Katie O’Donnell, a 1999 OJR graduate who said she is a survivor of sexual abuse by an adult, said “the fact that there was a whistleblower two years ago, who was on staff, and then got accused herself concerns me most.”

She added, “then it got turned on her and the president of the union was the one she was accusing, so the one agency that was supposed to protect her, failed her on so many levels.”

“You do all these things for these kids, but you have to protect them first,” said O’Donnell. “I graduated in 1999 and this has been rampant since then.”

“I am extremely disappointed in the administrators and teachers of this district,” said Warwick resident Kristin Evans. “You are all mandated reporters and go through significant in-service training. There are policies are in place, why were they not followed?”

The arrest has also sparked a wider discussion about sexual abuse in Owen J. Roberts and what is being done to prevent it, and deal with it.

Claire Hampton said during her senior year in 2017, an assistant lacrosse coach “shared a pornographic link into a group chat with 37 minors.”

Instead of educating the students about sexual assault, “they told us not to worry because the issue had been dealt with,” even though the coach continued with the team.

The team was told “to continue on with the season and move past the issue because of our potential,” said Hampton.

The team was also told “to stay silent and not draw attention about our collective experience of sexual assault. There is no moving past sexual assault,” Hampton said.

East Vincent resident Andrea Maneval, who has three children in the district and said she is a survivor of sexual assault by a peer “a long time ago,” said “many women who come forward are not listened to.”

“Since my son’s freshman year, three teachers have been arrested for something like this,” she said. “That’s disturbing.”

Jennifer Wunderlich of East Coventry asked about “students who plead guilty in court to sexual assault against a peer. How are they allowed to continue in the same extracurricular activity with their victim?”

West Vincent resident Beth McDonnell is the parent of two younger children and said her eighth-grader told her he had never had education about sexual assault or reporting to an adult or a tip line of any kind.

The situation “makes me wonder and give pause about this school district I am so excited to send my children to. It makes me very nervous for their future going forward,” she said.

Whether or not the district has the right policies and curriculum in place to protect students from sexual assault is one of the things the board has directed the administration to take a long look at, said School Board President Karel Minor.

“Personally, I’m doing my own soul searching about what I could have spotted and could have done better and anybody that’s not doing that might want to start doing a little bit of soul searching on that matter,” Minor said.

He said because the matter is still a criminal investigation, the board members “can’t speak as freely as we might like to,” but added “we are looking to take action.”

That action, he said, will begin with a special policy meeting in June to gather all “safety reporting and communications policies” together for a review. The board has asked its solicitor to conduct a review and also to look for an outside auditor to do the same — all actions the letter from the alumni asked the board to take.

Minor said the review might not happen as quickly as some might like.

“The community has no reason, if they are concerned with things, to trust us in getting any of this done. I’m going to suggest that you not bother,” said Minor.

“Hold us accountable. We are looking at things. We’re going to be moving forward. We’re going to be doing things,” he said. “We’re going to be talking with you.”

Board member Jennifer Munson warned that a thorough review may last “beyond the start of school.”

“My heart breaks a little bit when I hear the experience folks have had. We have to understand what a safe space looks like,” said board member Paul Friel. “We have to get everyone in the whole community, all the stakeholders, look each other in the eye and ask ourselves are we doing everything we could be doing?”

“I am exquisitely disappointed in many of those I have relied upon to do their duty,” said board member Melissa Booth. “I am thoroughly disappointed.”

Responding to a comment about the expressions of officials on the screen, Lloyd said “since this was announced, it’s the sense of shame that when things like this happen, that the rest of us who are teachers feel is a sense of shame. And that could be the look that people see on my face.”

Added Lloyd, “it’s embarrassing and it tarnishes our profession every time it happens and every teacher feels it, and every educator feels it.”

IMAGE FROM SCREENSHOT Molly Graham speaks to the school board Monday.