Staff, exprincipal charged

Five are accused of failing to tell law enforcement of a student’s claim that she was victimized by another.

Denver prosecutors have filed criminal charges against five current or former East High School staff members, including the former principal, for failing to report to law enforcement an alleged sexual assault by a student on another student.

Those charged with misdemeanor counts on Monday include Andy Mendelsberg, who retired in September as principal of the school in the wake of a report that said he failed to act on parent complaints that the school’s cheerleading coach physically forced girls into the splits.

The new case is not connected to the cheerleading scandal, said Ken Lane, the spokesman for Denver District Attorney Beth McCann.

Also charged with thirddegree misdemeanor violations of persons required to report: Jann Peterson, vice principal; Jen Sculley, dean; Anita Curtiss, counselor; and Eric Sinclair, dean. All five were served summons to make their initial court appearance on Monday. The charges still are pending.

Mendelsberg declined to comment Tuesday.

Current principal John Youngquist declined to comment and referred questions to Denver

Public Schools officials. Efforts to reach the other charged staff members were not immediately successful.

“We know how important it is to ensure that any student who has concerns about inappropriate or unlawful sexual behavior be fully supported and that concerns about abuse be promptly reported to law enforcement,” district spokesman Will Jones said in a statement. “We have strong policies and procedures in place to support students and are committed to ensuring a safe learning environment in our schools.”

The staff members are accused of failing to report an alleged sexual assault of a female student by a male student, both juveniles, after being informed of it in their capacity as school officials, Lane said. The incident allegedly occurred off campus in March 2016.

The boy “knowingly inflicted sexual intrusion or sexual penetration” on the girl, according to a filing in the case known as a petition in juvenile delinquency.

State law requires certain people, including school officials or employees, to report or cause a report to be made to the local child-welfare or law enforcement agency any incident of alleged child abuse or neglect after receiving information about it.

A probable-cause statement filed in the case alleges that the boy invited the girl to watch a movie at his home and sexually assaulted her while they were watching it. She broke down at school two days later, and a staff member took her to Sculley’s office, the statement said. Sculley then took the student to Curtiss’ office, according to the statement.

The girl showed a bruise she had received in the alleged assault, the statement said. The two school officials asked her if she wanted to press criminal charges.

“At that time, the victim didn’t understand what that meant and told them both no,” according to the statement. “The victim did request that it be written down and put in the other student/suspect’s file.”

But Jones added: “Our records indicate that the district did notify the Denver Police Department of this incident in March 2016. We will continue to work with the police and district attorney going forward to understand better their concerns in this case.”

The girl reported throughout 2016 and into 2017 that she was still suffering and being bullied. At one point, she met with another dean, Sinclair, and brought a dozen printed-out screen shots of text messages and social media posts of her being bullied for reporting the alleged assault, according to the statement. It adds that Sinclair filed the paperwork away and did nothing.

Eventually, the girl’s parents pulled her out of the school and asked to review her file, the statement said. The file had no documentation of the alleged sexual assault and “very little documentation about the bullying.”

The school then contacted the parents and set up a meeting with Mendelsberg, who had refused to let the parents pull their daughter out of the school. During the meeting, Mendelsberg told the parents he did not know their daughter and had not been told about the alleged rape, and that it was “new news” to him, according to the statement. He advised the parents to take care of the situation by having their daughter “find a new group of friends to hang out with,” the statement alleges.

The parents learned of mandatory reporting laws while watching television and contacted school administrators. Youngquist, the current East High principal, provided the information to a school resources officer who told the girl’s father to make a police report. The Denver Police Department began investigating the case in November after the girl’s parents contacted them.

The boy was charged last month in juvenile court with one court of sexual assault, a third-degree felony.