Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Board of Education is taking this opportunity to refute claims made by a few persons at the August 9, 2010 meeting that the School District knew of and the Superintendent did not act on allegations of inappropriate relationships by former or current Park County Sheriff’s officers with female students. These claims are unsubstantiated and without merit.

A recent investigative news article in The Flume contained a comprehensive account based upon interviews with the female rumored to have been involved, the former deputy, and numerous other county, state, and federal officials. According to the report, the allegations were investigated at every level of law enforcement in the County, including the office of the District Attorney. As reported, no criminal sexual conduct took place. More importantly, however, for School District purposes, the female was not a student and the former deputy was not an employee in the District when any of the alleged conduct took place.

The Board has no reason to believe that this report is inaccurate in any respect. The bottom line is that there is no indication that anyone in the District was aware of any alleged improprieties with any student by any employee or others nor that our superintendent, Dr. Walpole, or anyone else in the District failed to report any suspected, inappropriate behavior. The Board has complete confidence in Dr. Walpole and District staff.

The District has clear, written policies prohibiting any form of harassment of students, including sexual harassment. The written policies require immediate reporting by employees to law enforcement of any suspected case of child abuse, which includes any suspicion that a child has been subjected to unlawful sexual behavior by anyone.

Student handbooks, beginning-of-the-year student orientations, and the first meetings of sports teams include a review of these policies, the need for students to promptly report harassment and/or any unwelcomed sexual behavior, and specific instructions of how and to whom to report. If they don’t tell their parents, students may tell administrators, counselors, or teachers. They may report directly to SAFE2TELL, a statewide anonymous reporting system. The District has been one of the most aggressive in the state in promoting and supporting SAFE2TELL. The SAFE2TELL number is on each student’s and staff member’s identification card. As mentioned, any staff member suspecting unlawful sexual behavior involving students is mandated, by law, to file a report with Park County Human Services or the Park County Sheriff’s Office. Those agencies are charged with investigating the report. If ever a staff member were to be implicated, our expectation is that prompt administrative action would be taken until the findings of the investigation have been received.

No report of any allegation of sexual harassment or unlawful sexual behavior by staff or SROs, as alleged at the August 9 Board meeting, from students or their parents, has been received by the administration or Board. If any report is made or suspicion exists, it will be immediately reported as required by law and appropriate administrative actions will occur. Each teacher and administrator takes seriously, as does the Board of Education, the duty to uphold our mission of “Education Excellence in Safe Schools” and our legal responsibilities in doing so.