Abuse claim made against DPS employee
Employee is currently on paid leave pending April 12 hearing.
A former Dayton Public Schools student first reported in 2007 that he was sexually abused in 1990 by a school employee who has remained in the district and is currently on paid administrative leave pending a hearing sched
uled for April 12. The employee was placed on leave in January 2016 after the ex-student repeated the complaint to DPS officials. That led to an internal investigation that resulted in the investigator’s determination that the former student was “credible and truthful” about the abuse, according to the inves
tigator’s report. The Dayton Daily News obtained the report, which raises questions about why there was no action taken earlier to remove
the employee from having access to students.
“Shame on the district,” DPS Superintendent Rhonda Corr said last week about the lack of a strong response to the former student’s allegations. Corr, who came to the district in July 2016, vowed to react swiftly when staff members don’t measure up to the district’s standards for behavior.
The former student first reported the alleged abuse in 2007 — to both the district’s then-safety director and to Dayton Police — and followed up with the school district months later when no action was taken. The man, a Marine who served tours overseas, also reported it to a Veterans Administration counselor in 2010 when he was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the report.
“In three separate instances over a three-year period, (the ex-student) reported to three separate agencies that he was a victim of sexual assault at the hands of ... an employee with the Dayton Public Schools,” DPS Safety Director Jamie Bullens, a former Dayton Police officer, wrote in his report. “I have concluded the information collected supports the fact that (the ex-student) is a victim of sexual assault and his account of this allegation is credible.”
The Dayton Daily News is not naming either the accuser or the employee at this time. The newspaper typically does not identify victims of sexual abuse, and the accused in this case has not been charged criminally. The Montgomery County prosecutor’s office confirmed that no charges have been filed in the case.
Bullens told the newspaper he knows of no other alleged victims who have come forward with abuse claims involving the employee during the employee’s nearly 30-year tenure in the district.
The employee has been disciplined before, however. District records show he was placed on paid administrative leave in January 2013 after a female student said he made an inappropriate comment to her during school. He was reinstated the following week after school officials said they had dealt with the situation internally.
The Ohio Department of Education in April 2014 also subpoenaed any complaints or disciplinary records in the employee’s file. ODE officials would not confirm or deny whether a state investigation into the employee is ongoing, and the newspaper could not independently verify whether such an investigation is pending.
Corr told the newspaper the district should have done more to address the complaint in 2007.
“You make a report. Especially as a (former) principal, I could still give you the numbers I dialed,” she said. “You report it to the sex crimes unit, you report it to your own safety and security, you report it to your own immediate supervisor, you have to call children and family services — and I question whether any of that stuff was done.”
She said she has encountered other instances where “protocols aren’t followed.”
“The thing that I’m dealing with in the district, and I love Dayton, but I always talk about peeling back the layers of the onion,” she said. “There’s always another level of stench. Procedures and protocols aren’t followed. Sometimes people get to keep their jobs because of people that they know. And on my watch that won’t happen.”
The April 12 DPS hearing comes after the district filed an internal “notice of charges” action on March 6 that could lead to termination. The notice alleges that the employee violated two school board policies that reference immoral conduct and student abuse, among other items. “It is recommended that ( job) termination be considered,” the notice says.
The newspaper has attempted to reach out to both the accuser and the accused in hopes of getting comment. Neither one could be reached.
The DPS notice, which lays out some of the reasons for the disciplinary action, mentions the alleged sexual assault but also says the employee allegedly harassed and attempted to intimidate the student during his time in school. Later, after the former student returned to the area following his time in the military, the notice says the former student reported that the employee approached him multiple times at DPS sporting events during the 2015-16 school year, one time asking his children, “Did your dad tell you he was ‘bad’ in school?”
He also accused the employee was taking photos of him and his family in the crowd.
“Your inappropriate behavior as a Dayton Public School employee has created an undue burden on administration, and had a negative effect on the environment and image of Dayton Public Schools,” the notice says. “In addition, you have negatively impacted the life of a former Dayton Public School student.”
The former student has had nightmares about the alleged sexual assault, according to the notice.
The sexual assault allegedly occurred in the employee’s home, according to the 2007 letter the former student sent to the school district’s then-safety director and Dayton Police. According to the letter, which the newspaper obtained from the district as part of a public records request, the man said he needed a job as a high school student in 1990 when the accused school employee suggested he could have success modeling.
In the letter, the former student said the employee badgered him until he agreed, and then took him to his house, where he pressured him to pose for nude photos. The student said the aide provided alcohol “to relax me a little,” and once the student was intoxicated, proceeded to fondle his genitals.
A Dayton Police incident report from September 2007 confirms the former student spoke to officers and gave them the letter. The case was assigned to a detective, but officers cautioned the former student at the time that pursuing a 17-year-old allegation would be a challenge.
“It was explained to (the ex-student) that this would be a difficult case for the detectives to follow up on, but that they would try,” reads the report filed by Officer Charles Hurley. “(The ex-student) stated that he understood all of that and that he was simply doing this in an attempt to try to protect other people.”
Cara Zinski-Neace, a spokeswoman for the police department, said the office is checking on the outcome of that 2007 investigation.
The school district’s former security chief declined comment.
Corr said she wants to take multiple steps to toughen DPS procedures, from hiring an independent hearing officer for discipline cases, to expanding DPS’ investigative unit next year and providing a step-by-step process for principals to follow on sex-related allegations.
“If somebody ever does something inappropriate to a child on my watch, we will prosecute to the fullest extent possible,” she said. “I don’t want these people on our rolls, and I don’t want them around children.”