TOP STORY OF THE DAY
June 27, 2008 - Erie District Attorney Frank J. Clark strongly criticized the principal of a school for not reporting an allegation that a 4-year-old autistic boy had been fondled by a teacher's aide.
Clark said that there was insufficient evidence to charge the principal, but he recommended that the school district consider action against Principal Carmela Botticello.
In addition, Clark urged school officials to adopt a policy directing staff to automatically report allegations of child abuse to police and child protection officials without making “a credibility assessment of the validity of the allegation.
His full report examines the case in detail. His report can be found here. PDF
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BACKGROUND
On November 14, 2007 special education teacher Charlene Harris witnessed a teacher's aide, John Colazzi, 60, touch the penis of a 4-year-old autistic boy in the school lavatory. Harris immediately reported it to Principal Carmela Botticello. (As required by district policy.)
Botticello notified the superintendent. The superintendent advised Botticello to investigate and then call Joy Trotter, the Director of Human Resources. The superintendent did not advise Botticello to call the child abuse hotline.1
The principal obtained statements from the teacher, the accused aide and another aide and faxed them on Nov 15 to Joy Trotter, the Director of Human Resources. (The Human Resources Director is not a mandated reporter because she was not a "school administrator" was a finding of the report. pg 15)
The Principal also faxed a memorandum to Trotter in which Botticello claimed the teacher was "not truly sure of what she saw" and "seemed confused" about how to explain her observations."(pg 2) 2
The Human Resources Director eventually decided there was insufficent evidence and returned the aide to the classroom. 3
CHRONOLOGY
Nov 13 - Teacher reports incident to school principal.
Nov 15 - Principal faxes report to Human Resources Director and expresses doubt.
Nov 15 - Colazzi assigned to a third grade classroom.
Nov 15 - Nov 26 - No investigation. (p 2) No report to child abuse hotline.
Date not given - Human Resources Director concluded there was insufficient evidence.
Nov 26 - The teacher protested that the aide was returned to the classroom.
Nov 28 - The aide again returned to the classroom Nov 28. (no toileting duty)
Nov 28 - The teacher mailed a letter via Restricted Mail to the district superintendent.
Nov 30 - Teacher revises statement to clarify what she saw.
Nov 30 - Human Resource director, at teacher's request, schedules meeting for Dec 19.
No one has notified the child abuse hotline. No one has notified the parents.
Dec 8 - Teacher calls child abuse hotline for advice. Does not ask for law enforcement referral.
Dec 19 - Teacher meets with Human Resources director, school attorney and teacher union representative present. Agreement to keep the case open and that further investigation was warranted.
No further investigation was conducted. No one notified the child abuse hotline. No one notified the parents.
Dec 20 - Teacher sent e-mails to Human Resources Director.
Dec 21 - Teacher sends another e-mail to Human Resources Director.
Jan 20 - BTF (Buffalo Teachers Federation) communicated "threats" by a teacher to go to the media if something wasn't done soon.
Feb 5 - Teacher sends e-mail to Human Resources Director asking about the status of the case and concern that parents have not been notified.
Feb 13 - Teacher sends another e-mail to Human Resources Director asking same thing.
No further investigation conducted.
Feb 25 - Teacher contacts child abuse hotline to request law enforcement referral.
Mar 5 - Police contact Human Resource Director. She told police that she had been contacted by the school principal several times because the teacher was threatening to tell the parents.
Mar 6 - School principal contacts parents. Parents demand aide is removed. Teacher hears that aide wants to "blow her head off" and leaves early.
Mar 11 - Aide told he was on administrative leave effective March 31.
May 28 - Teacher's aide John Colazzi, 60, was arrested and was indicted.
MAJOR FINDING of the REPORT
What the District Attorney concluded was that the legislature determined that such investigations NOT be conducted by the school but by the "arms-length" character of law enforcement to promote the objectivity of such an investigation. (pg 11)
The investigation "must not be undertaken by school personnel, but must be the responsibility of law enforcement agencies who are trained and qualified to conduct them." (pg 11)
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THE POINT: The intent of Mandatory Reporting laws is to remove the investigation from the school. And the abuse to be reported was by "persons of trust." Clearly stated by the Erie County District Attorney on pg 10.This law was enacted on June 1, 2001, to combat the persistent problem of abuse by persons of trust and to create a standardized statewide policy for the reporting, investigation and identification of this form of child abuse.
WHAT WE FOUND
What we have found is that this is how school districts and schools investigate themselves. When it involves teacher-student sex, a lengthy in-house investigation alerts the teacher and the student so incriminating evidence like letters or e-mails or cell phone images can be erased. It gives them time to concoct a joint defense. Sadly, a lengthy investigation also allows the time for school officials to intimidate the student and teachers and other students who do contact the administration.
In cases of physical abuse, the self-investigation intimidates parents into not pursuing the matter. A declaration of "insufficient evidence" to a parent from a school they trust, is usually accepted. When it is not, it's sure-fire notice that the school won't pursue the matter, anyway.
Shifting the investigation to a Human Resources Director helps direct the case to where it can languish. More importantly, it tells the teacher that her continued happy employment may be in jeopardy. She might not be fired, but she can be transferred to somewhere unpleasant.
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FOOTNOTES
1 Report states: "Notably, on October 17, 2007, Social Services Law S413 was amended to require a mandated reporter to first made a report to the State Central Registry and and then then [underlining his] immediately notify the person in charge of the school or his or her "designated agent. Prior to this amendment to the law, the mandated reporting laws were satisfied by the mandated reporter immediately notifying his or her supervisor, who would then make the report to the state Register.
2 School Board policy called for the Principal to complete a form to document the allegation. The form requires the principal to check off whether there is "reasonable suspicion" that the abuse occurred. She did not file the form. The policy then required her to notify the Security Services of the allegations. She did not. (Security Services would then have notified the Buffalo Police Department.) (pg 13) --- The principal refused to be interviewed by prosecutors.
3 Ironically, Joy Trotter, the Director of Human Resources, was fired for mishandling the investigation.
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PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Previous TT entries on this case. Entry Entry
Not mentioned by the Erie County District Attorney is the fact that the Buffalo Public School District policy of mandatory reporters reporting to their supervisors is in contradiction to law.
From the New York State Central Register (SCR) of Child Abuse and Maltreatment Summary Guide for MANDATED REPORTERS in New York State Pub. 1159
As soon as you suspect abuse or maltreatment, you must report your concerns by telephone to the SCR. The SCR is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to receive your call.Notice that the Central Register list says "school official" but does not include teacher. But the law referenced - Child Protective Services 413 - specifically states "teacher."
school official, which includes but is not limited to school teacher, school guidance counselor, school psychologist, school social worker, school nurse, school administrator or other school personnel required to hold a teaching or administrative license or certificate;THE QUESTION REMAINS
If mandatory reporters in all other professions and fields are required to notify the Central Register of abuse, why is the school district given a pass to create their own reporting scheme?
