School requirements re: sexual assault in preschool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, How are you doing and what did you decide?

OP here. We had another meeting with the school. This one went better but one of the lead administrators still does not believe anything happened. I am baffled by that they think we would be wasting our time (or theirs) if we were not absolutely certain that something happened. I am flabbergasted that it is 2020 and people's knee-jerk reaction to a report of sexual assault is total and utter disbelief. I am frightened but also don't know what to do in the middle of the school year. I'm calling around the privates to see if there are any mid-year openings but no luck so far.

The school said they are committed to training their teachers/staff. I hope that is true.

They still won't commit to moving our daughter to another classroom, and we are not sending her back to school unless they do. We're at a stalemate.

[Anonymous]

This is terrifying. The school is acting horribly and I’m so sorry this is happening to your daughter. Take care.

[Anonymous]

The other thing is it may have happened but not at school and she is lying as she was threatened not to tell. What did the police and doctors say?

[Anonymous]

OP - if you have not already, make sure this is all documented. You have mentioned a couple of in person meetings. Follow up with your requests in writing and summarize their response or lack thereof to you in writing as well.

Also, have you told the police about the failure to report to CPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - if you have not already, make sure this is all documented. You have mentioned a couple of in person meetings. Follow up with your requests in writing and summarize their response or lack thereof to you in writing as well.

Also, have you told the police about the failure to report to CPS?

The police are involved. An investigation is pending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How are you doing and what did you decide?

OP here. We had another meeting with the school. This one went better but one of the lead administrators still does not believe anything happened. I am baffled by that they think we would be wasting our time (or theirs) if we were not absolutely certain that something happened. I am flabbergasted that it is 2020 and people's knee-jerk reaction to a report of sexual assault is total and utter disbelief. I am frightened but also don't know what to do in the middle of the school year. I'm calling around the privates to see if there are any mid-year openings but no luck so far.

The school said they are committed to training their teachers/staff. I hope that is true.

They still won't commit to moving our daughter to another classroom, and we are not sending her back to school unless they do. We're at a stalemate.

The job of a mandated reporter is not to determine whether or not an allegation is true. The job of a mandated reporter is to report what was alleged to the appropriate authority (in this case, DC Child Protective Services) and allow them to investigate the allegation.

That your child's school has taken it upon themselves to say that this does not warrant investigation (which is what they are saying by refusing to report it) indicates to me that they do not know their obligations as mandated reporters. Please call CPS yourself - [phone]. When you do, please name the exact administrators who did not report it, the teacher who did not report it, and any other school staff to whom you or your child made a report who have not reported it to CPS.

Here are some FAQs it sounds like your school might find useful, from CPS itself (emphasis mine):

Q: Have I fulfilled my obligation as a mandated reporter if I tell my supervisor about
my suspicions of child abuse or neglect?

A: No. It is your individual responsibility to report to the hotline. Telling your
supervisor or anyone else does not fulfill your legal obligation. You may want to ask
your supervisor make the hotline call with you, especially if you both have first?hand
information about the child.

Q: Does my supervisor have authority to decide whether I call the hotline?

A: Although every organization has its own internal policies on reporting child
abuse/neglect, District law states that under no circumstances shall any person in
charge of an institution control, restrain, or modify a child abuse/neglect report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How are you doing and what did you decide?

OP here. We had another meeting with the school. This one went better but one of the lead administrators still does not believe anything happened. I am baffled by that they think we would be wasting our time (or theirs) if we were not absolutely certain that something happened. I am flabbergasted that it is 2020 and people's knee-jerk reaction to a report of sexual assault is total and utter disbelief. I am frightened but also don't know what to do in the middle of the school year. I'm calling around the privates to see if there are any mid-year openings but no luck so far.

The school said they are committed to training their teachers/staff. I hope that is true.

They still won't commit to moving our daughter to another classroom, and we are not sending her back to school unless they do. We're at a stalemate.

The job of a mandated reporter is not to determine whether or not an allegation is true. The job of a mandated reporter is to report what was alleged to the appropriate authority (in this case, DC Child Protective Services) and allow them to investigate the allegation.

That your child's school has taken it upon themselves to say that this does not warrant investigation (which is what they are saying by refusing to report it) indicates to me that they do not know their obligations as mandated reporters. Please call CPS yourself - [phone]. When you do, please name the exact administrators who did not report it, the teacher who did not report it, and any other school staff to whom you or your child made a report who have not reported it to CPS.

Here are some FAQs it sounds like your school might find useful, from CPS itself (emphasis mine):

Q: Have I fulfilled my obligation as a mandated reporter if I tell my supervisor about
my suspicions of child abuse or neglect?

A: No. It is your individual responsibility to report to the hotline. Telling your
supervisor or anyone else does not fulfill your legal obligation. You may want to ask
your supervisor make the hotline call with you, especially if you both have first?hand
information about the child.

Q: Does my supervisor have authority to decide whether I call the hotline?

A: Although every organization has its own internal policies on reporting child
abuse/neglect, District law states that under no circumstances shall any person in
charge of an institution control, restrain, or modify a child abuse/neglect report.

Please pay attention to this. The school has a responsibility to report REGARDLESS of whether they believe the allegation. See the article below. The KIPP principal faced criminal charges even though the police and the school did not find a violation.

The failure to report timely is reason enough for the school to examine its response and (hopefully) reconsider the placement for your child.

https://legalherald.com/washington-d-c-kipp-dc-college-prep-principal-andhra-lutz-charged-with-failure-to-report-allegation-of-teacher-sex-abuse/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How are you doing and what did you decide?

OP here. We had another meeting with the school. This one went better but one of the lead administrators still does not believe anything happened. I am baffled by that they think we would be wasting our time (or theirs) if we were not absolutely certain that something happened. I am flabbergasted that it is 2020 and people's knee-jerk reaction to a report of sexual assault is total and utter disbelief. I am frightened but also don't know what to do in the middle of the school year. I'm calling around the privates to see if there are any mid-year openings but no luck so far.

The school said they are committed to training their teachers/staff. I hope that is true.

They still won't commit to moving our daughter to another classroom, and we are not sending her back to school unless they do. We're at a stalemate.

The job of a mandated reporter is not to determine whether or not an allegation is true. The job of a mandated reporter is to report what was alleged to the appropriate authority (in this case, DC Child Protective Services) and allow them to investigate the allegation.

That your child's school has taken it upon themselves to say that this does not warrant investigation (which is what they are saying by refusing to report it) indicates to me that they do not know their obligations as mandated reporters. Please call CPS yourself - [phone]. When you do, please name the exact administrators who did not report it, the teacher who did not report it, and any other school staff to whom you or your child made a report who have not reported it to CPS.

Here are some FAQs it sounds like your school might find useful, from CPS itself (emphasis mine):

Q: Have I fulfilled my obligation as a mandated reporter if I tell my supervisor about
my suspicions of child abuse or neglect?

A: No. It is your individual responsibility to report to the hotline. Telling your
supervisor or anyone else does not fulfill your legal obligation. You may want to ask
your supervisor make the hotline call with you, especially if you both have first?hand
information about the child.

Q: Does my supervisor have authority to decide whether I call the hotline?

A: Although every organization has its own internal policies on reporting child
abuse/neglect, District law states that under no circumstances shall any person in
charge of an institution control, restrain, or modify a child abuse/neglect report.

+1
I am the PP social worker. This is precisely it. The onus is on the mandated reporter to make the report of suspected abuse or neglect. The reporter does not have to determine if it actually happened, they have to report the suspicion. It is up to CPS to investigate and determine what happened, along with the expert help of other appropriate agencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:23 here. Did the pediatrician document physical injury? From your post it seems no one was particularly helpful. Is that why you’re not yet sure how to proceed?

OP here. No physical injury, but my daughter was really upset by the exam, and she was really sad/withdrawn after the exam.

Was the pediatrician a familiar face to you and your daughter? They should not have traumatized her.

Yes she is a wonderful pediatrician and she is very familiar. We went to see her b/c our daughter was refusing to wipe or wash her pee-pee b/c she said there was a crack in there and it hurt. We went to the doctor so she could look at the crack. When the doctor said there was no crack, our daughter was really upset. She said there was a crack and it hurt and blood was coming out.

Its so heartbreaking to hear all of this.

OMG, poor thing! I'm heartbroken for you and your daughter. . . I hope you get everything you need and send you lots of virtual hugs and kisses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How are you doing and what did you decide?

OP here. We had another meeting with the school. This one went better but one of the lead administrators still does not believe anything happened. I am baffled by that they think we would be wasting our time (or theirs) if we were not absolutely certain that something happened. I am flabbergasted that it is 2020 and people's knee-jerk reaction to a report of sexual assault is total and utter disbelief. I am frightened but also don't know what to do in the middle of the school year. I'm calling around the privates to see if there are any mid-year openings but no luck so far.

The school said they are committed to training their teachers/staff. I hope that is true.

They still won't commit to moving our daughter to another classroom, and we are not sending her back to school unless they do. We're at a stalemate.

The job of a mandated reporter is not to determine whether or not an allegation is true. The job of a mandated reporter is to report what was alleged to the appropriate authority (in this case, DC Child Protective Services) and allow them to investigate the allegation.

That your child's school has taken it upon themselves to say that this does not warrant investigation (which is what they are saying by refusing to report it) indicates to me that they do not know their obligations as mandated reporters. Please call CPS yourself - [phone]. When you do, please name the exact administrators who did not report it, the teacher who did not report it, and any other school staff to whom you or your child made a report who have not reported it to CPS.

Here are some FAQs it sounds like your school might find useful, from CPS itself (emphasis mine):

Q: Have I fulfilled my obligation as a mandated reporter if I tell my supervisor about
my suspicions of child abuse or neglect?

A: No. It is your individual responsibility to report to the hotline. Telling your
supervisor or anyone else does not fulfill your legal obligation. You may want to ask
your supervisor make the hotline call with you, especially if you both have first?hand
information about the child.

Q: Does my supervisor have authority to decide whether I call the hotline?

A: Although every organization has its own internal policies on reporting child
abuse/neglect, District law states that under no circumstances shall any person in
charge of an institution control, restrain, or modify a child abuse/neglect report.

+1
I am the PP social worker. This is precisely it. The onus is on the mandated reporter to make the report of suspected abuse or neglect. The reporter does not have to determine if it actually happened, they have to report the suspicion. It is up to CPS to investigate and determine what happened, along with the expert help of other appropriate agencies.

I am the PP who posted the CPS phone number and FAQ. I'm also a social worker. I have worked in schools. I also used to work for CPS. I am, quite frankly, appalled at this situation since in addition to all that, I have kids within the DC school system. There is absolutely no legal or ethical justification for the school's behavior. Even if they were CERTAIN your child was lying, they have an obligation to report it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. Thank you all (well most of you) for your recommendations.

We called CPS, filed a report.

Visited the pediatrician.

Talked to MY therapist.

Filed a police report

Talked to Safe Shores.

The school HAS NOT reported (CPS checked for us)

We went back and forth a/b the best situation for our child. She loves the school so much, so we decided to ask her to be moved to another classroom. We met with the head of lower school and she was UTTERLY indifferent. I thought she would be in CYA mode, but she literally couldn't care less. When I said this was about my child's safety, she told me to CALM DOWN. We basically rushed out of there, grabbed our kid and now I'm home trying to figure out what to do.

We emailed the school administrators. We're in DC Charter, no schools have mid year openings, not sure what to do.

GET A LAWYER. Why should your kid have to change classes, the other kid needs to be removed. I would never attend a school meeting about something serious like assualt without a lawyer. the school broke the law and someone needs to fired. You aren't helping anyone if you don't name the school. So other kids aren't safe either.

[Anonymous]

Lawyer up. Stop talking directly with the administration. Record everything. Summarize all conversations in writing. Keep track of ALL expenses resulting from this. You will be billing the school for all of them. The lawyer will have to do a lot of the nasty work. You're job is to take care of your kid, be a factotum, and not give up.


As a concerned parent, I want to know the name of the charter and have their license repealed. This incident crosses so many lines and there needs to be serious consequences. Stay strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal was unreasonable. The board at most charters is the one who hires the principal. Ergo, I would complain to the board. They need to know about this anyway, because if they are halfway decent they are going to worry about you suing and they are going to want to make you happy to avoid that.

Seriously, their liability is off the charts for future issues and their charter is at risk. A certified letter to the Board along with an affidavit (wrie the narrative up and have it notarized at the bank) is essential (this puts some of the liability risk on them).

[Anonymous]

Why doesn’t OP name the school?
Any risk to her at this point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, sounds like you handled it well. No way would I return my child to that school.

I hear you, but if we take her out of a school she loves, she could get the message that reporting leads to punishment. This is particularly the case when I can't find a similar school midway through the school year.

She could go back to her old preschool/daycare but she doesn't like that school and thinks that going back there is a punishment even on PD and days off of school.

But, if you leave her in the same school/classroom then you are putting her at further risk and it undermines your case.