Cops not told of assault allegation

2014 report at St. Andrew’s proved to be unfounded

St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton says it neglected to tell police about a sexual assault claim involving a student in 2014.

Police said the claim proved to be unfounded, but the school, in a recent letter to parents, acknowledges that it should have reported the allegation. St. Andrew’s says it has taken steps to ensure that such a situation does not happen again.

In August, the private school was criticized for failing to report an inappropriate student-teacher relationship from a few years ago.

In the latest case, which came to light last month, a St. Andrew’s School employee

contacted police to report an allegation of a student being sexually assaulted at an off-campus party involving alcohol in 2014, police records show.

But the former student, interviewed by police last month, said she wasn’t assaulted, prompting officers to determine the case was unfounded.

Administrators in 2014 apparently didn’t report the allegation to police or the state Department of Children and Families, and “neither her parents nor legal guardian were ever notified of the incident,” the police report said.

In a note to parents last month, Interim Headmaster Jim Byer wrote that “in the interest of transparency,” the school was notifying them of an additional allegation that had been uncovered. In his note, Byer didn’t specify the circumstances of the incident, other than to say it happened off campus, involved former students and “may have occurred in the Fall of 2014.”

He acknowledged “the case wasn’t handled appropriately or reported properly” and said the school has “now reported this matter to the authorities and reached out to individuals who may have been affected.”

The announcement is among the latest developments amid the turmoil this year over the release of a school-commissioned investigative report in August. The report accused the school of failing to adequately protect students from potential abuse.

The report concluded the school had ignored a teacher's inappropriate relationship with students. The accused teacher, Christopher Waite, was fired in November last year, only after a boy enrolled at the school spent four nights at his on-campus apartment, a report said. A law firm reported the allegations against him to police in May. Police found no evidence of any crime, and he didn't face any charge, records show.

Also last week, Boca police confirmed school staff wouldn’t face criminal charges for failing to report an unrelated studentfondling case in 2014.

In a separate note sent out Friday, Byer told staff and parents that the upper school head, Sara Rubinstein, would resign this month. According to the police report, Rubinstein was on paid administrative leave during a law firm’s investigation into the school.

Byer said the school needs to move on.

“As Interim Headmaster, I have a duty to preserve Saint Andrew’s School’s mission of educating and nurturing our students in mind, body, and spirit,” Byer wrote. “The reality of our school environment is that the school needs to move forward in 2017 after a challenging fall semester.”

Rubinstein had been head of St. Andrew’s upper school, which includes students in grades 9 through 12, since 2014.

The 2014 case reviewed last month by Boca Raton police came after a schoolcommissioned investigation unearthed emails Rubinstein sent to another administrator about the assault claim, police records show.

Around late September 2014, Rubinstein had found an anonymous note on her desk that alleged a student may have been sexually assaulted at the off-campus party, a police report states. The note further alleged some students had photos and videos of the incident, and that the student had no memory of the assault, according to the report.

When Rubinstein called the student into her office about the note, she told the teen the school’s services were available to her if she needed anything, the teen told police last month, according to a police report.

The teen recently told police she wasn’t sexually assaulted, and said she wasn’t sure why someone left the note. She told police she remembered the whole night of the 2014 party.

Rubinstein had emailed then-headmaster Peter Benedict about the incident, according to the Boca Raton police report.

Rubinstein’s attorney, William Cornwell, told the Sun Sentinel on Tuesday that Rubinstein followed school rules once she was aware of the allegation in 2014.

“At the time, she followed the exact policy,” Cornwell said. “In fact, she went beyond the policy and procedures at the school in notifying the dean of students, in notifying the counselor for the upper school, and [she] went beyond that.”

Cornwell said the school’s attorney also was aware of the incident.

Benedict, who reportedly resigned in April, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Under Florida law, school officials and personnel could be charged with a third-degree felony if they don't report suspicion of child abuse to law enforcement or to a child abuse hotline. Florida law defines child abuse as "intentional infliction of physical or mental injury upon a child."

But a Boca officer assigned last month to investigate the 2014 allegation concluded the school wasn’t required to report it to the Department of Children and Families. That’s because “no sexual assault occurred by a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or any other person responsible for the child’s welfare,” based on the student’s 2014 statement to administrators, the officer wrote in a report.

The officer said the circumstances didn’t meet the “mandatory reporting criteria for child abuse/neglect.”

When asked Tuesday about the 2014 incident, school spokesman Carlos Barroso wrote in an email that “it is our responsibility to take an objective approach to all matters related to safety on campus, both past and present, to ensure a safe and secure environment for all students, faculty, and staff.”

Interim Headmaster Jim Byer said “the case wasn’t handled appropriately or reported properly.”