On May 27 the Pickens County Grand Jury voted to initiate an investigation of the Pickens County Board of Education after the district attorney presented evidence of the failure by board employees to comply with mandatory reporting requirements.
The investigation centered around the superintendent and high school principal following the arrest of PHS teacher Laura Lyles. Lyles, 33, was arrested March 10th for alleged sexual contact with a male student. The STAR teacher was charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sodomy and four counts of furnishing alcohol to a person under the age of 21. The charges stemmed from alleged sexual activity with one student.
The committee met on several occasions during June, hearing testimony from witnesses pertaining to Lyles’ arrest for inappropriate sexual conduct with students. The committee heard testimony from Detective Patrick Seals and Chief Deputy Joe McDonald as it pertained to the sheriff’s office investigation of the incident. Sheriff Donnie Craig was also interviewed along with Allen Wigington, the current chairman of the Child Abuse Protocol committee.
The committee subpoenaed documents from the board of education and reviewed correspondence, notes and memorandum regarding these incidents, training records and material concerning mandated reporting, written statements concerning the incidents of suspected child abuse in which there was a significant delay in reporting and certain personnel records.
The Committee informed the Board of Education through a letter of the incidents which created concern, informed the Board of the persons whose conduct was under scrutiny and offered the Board of Education an opportunity to send any person or persons to voluntarily present evidence on behalf of the Board of Education. The following persons appeared at the request of or on behalf of the Board: Superintendent Mike Ballew, Board of Education Chairman John Trammell and School Board Attorney Phillip M. Landrum III.
The Committee has reviewed the Mandated Reporter Statute (OCGA §19-7-5) and the Board of Education’s Policy regarding Mandated Reporting and the Child Abuse Protocol’s provisions that pertain to the reporting of child abuse.
The Committee issued a report to the full Grand Jury, with detailed findings of fact concerning the systemic failures of the school administration to adequately and timely report child abuse. This report has been adopted by the Grand Jury, sealed and delivered to the Chief Superior Court Judge.
The Committee found a number of systemic deficiencies in the reporting of suspected child abuse and failures to comply with Board Policy and the Child Abuse Protocol.
Recommendations
Based on the findings and information obtained by the Committee the following recommendations are made:
1. The Committee recommends that the School Board Child Abuse or Neglect Policy to be revised with more specificity. For example, the positions of principal, vice principal, counsel, personnel directory and superintendent be listed in the policy to further emphasize the importance of these positions to know and adhere to the “immediate” reporting as required by law.
2. The Committee further recommends that the revised version of this policy be added to the personnel handbook and/ or manuals and that these documents be distributed to all personnel no later than the beginning of the 2010-11 school year. The Committee further recommends that a copy of the training manual be provided to each Mandated Reporter.
3. The Committee recommends that the Child Abuse Protocol and the Board’s Policy be modified to provide that the Mandated Reporter make an initial report to the School Resource Officer immediately.
4. The Committee recommends that the sheriff’s office also fully investigate any possible violations of OCGA §19-7-5 or the Child Abuse Protocol as it relates to the reporting of suspected child abuse. Any substantiated case of failing to report should then be turned over to the District Attorney, Child Abuse Protocol Committee, the School Board and to the Grand Jury for appropriate action.
5. The Committee recommends that the Child Abuse Protocol include additional provisions which more specifically apply to instances of abuse which occur on school property and/or is perpetrated by school employees. In drafting this provision, the Child Abuse Protocol Committee should take into account the incentives by administrators to delay reporting and establish appropriate safeguards to avoid that problem.
The Committee recommends that the provisions of the Child Abuse Protocol which prohibit school employees conducting interviews of children involved in cases of suspected child abuse be expanded to prohibit the interviewing of any witnesses including suspected perpetrators until such witnesses have been interviewed by law enforcement or DFACS.
See next week's print edition of the Pickens Progress for further developments
|
|
