Judge Finds Mo. School District Unqualified to Handle Sexual Assaults
The Forest Hills School District failed to train its employees to handle sexual assault claims according to a judge.
A judge ruled that a Missouri school district did not adequately train school workers to handle sexual assault complaints on March 31.
U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney has not determined the amount of damages that will be awarded to a former student who reported being sexually assaulted to the Forest Hills School District in 2010, according to mlive.com.
District Superintendent Daniel Behm admitted that the schools provided no training to employees to respond to sexual assault claims.
The former student, who was 15 at the time, claims she was sexually assaulted by a prominent athlete in the school band room when she was a sophomore. She also claims the school subjected her to further harassment at home, online and at sporting events by not handling her complaint appropriately.
The district said it acted quickly and tried to respect the rights of the accuser and the accused, but both the assistant superintendent and the former principle were unsure if Title IX applied to the case. The district also claimed a Kent County detective instructed them not to conduct a parallel investigation, but the detective denied that.
The case will go to trial to determine other issues, such as if school officials were deliberately indifferent.
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