A district spokeswoman
says administrators ‘will continue to conduct ongoing reviews of our policies, systems and protocols’
More than three years
after the Redlands Unified School District adopted a series of reforms to
combat the sexual abuse of students, a San Bernardino County grand jury has
found school and district personnel still struggle with their legal duty to
weed out predators within their ranks.
While praising the
district for the protocols imposed in 2018 after a Southern California News
Group investigation revealed nearly two decades of lapses in proper reporting
of suspected abuse, the grand jury found that many employees are still vague on
mandated reporter laws.
Additionally, school
district personnel still do not have a clear understanding of “reasonable
suspicion” — information rising to the level that it warrants reporting
suspected abuse to law enforcement or the Department of Children and Family
Services.
“All educators have a
responsibility to ensure the academic success and wellbeing of their students,”
the grand jury said in its 22-page report. “However, years of scandals,
allegations, and criminal cases filed against Redlands Unified School District
over sexual misconduct by staff and teachers involved with students, has caused
adherence to this responsibility to be called into question.”
As part of its probe, the
grand jury interviewed Redlands Police Department and Redlands Unified
personnel, along with investigators hired by the school district as well as
parents and victims.
It also reviewed incidents
of sexual abuse between Redlands Unified staff and students from 2006 to 2017
along with laws governing mandated reporters — people in fields such as
education, medicine, social work and clergy who are required by law to notify
authorities of abuse suspicions and allegations.
‘Clearer understanding’
needed
The grand jury found that,
across the board, Redlands Unified administration and staff need a “clearer
understanding of how and to whom to report.”
The findings were among
more than a dozen by the grand jury, which began investigating in February 2021
after reading a Southern California News Group article about another alleged
sexual abuse victim of former Citrus Valley High School teacher Laura
Whitehurst suing the district.
The district has paid out
$41.3 million in the past five years to settle sex abuse lawsuits filed by
former students who alleged they were preyed upon and sexually abused by teachers
from 1999 through 2016.
Grand jury findings
Titled “Predatory
Behaviors and Ignorance Within Redlands Unified School District: Has the School
District Learned Its Lesson?” the report detailed several troubling discoveries
by the grand jury.
Among the findings:
Staff members are choosing
to report to the anonymous WE-TIP hotline and to administrators rather than
police and CFS when they suspect inappropriate behavior between teachers and
students.
The district lacks a
formal written policy instructing staff to immediately notify parents when
their child is being interviewed in a sexual abuse investigation.
The district has been
inconsistent in its implementation of training and lacks ongoing training
regarding mandated reporting, identifying grooming behaviors, and boundary
violations.
Training has been lacking
for students and parents in identifying predatory grooming behaviors.
The district’s
parent-student handbook is bulky and arduous, peppered with legalese and not
user friendly, and therefore is not often read. But recipients sign the form
acknowledging they have read it because it is required for a student to
register for classes. This, according to the grand jury, creates a “false
narrative” that all parents and students have read and understand the contents
of the handbook.
The district’s “Working
Smart” tips on staff protocols for proper use of social media platforms and in
communicating with students is not incorporated into district policies.
The deficiencies cast a
pall over the strides the district has taken in the past three years to to get
its arms around the issue. While the grand jury noted the district should be
commended for increasing training and implementing its ACT (Actions Create
Trust) Now initiative to enhance student safety, the grand jury said
significant improvement is still needed.
The grand jury has
recommended, among other things, year-round training at all schools and that
all staff understand predatory grooming behaviors and what “reasonable
suspicion” is during their annual performance evaluations.
“The grand jury is
confident that the district, partnering with the community, can work towards
making the training more effective in the future so that our most precious
resource, our children, can be protected,” the grand jury said in the report.
District disappointed
In a statement, school
district spokeswoman Christine Stephens said the district was disappointed with
some of the findings, and that it appeared the grand jury failed to understand
some aspects of the district’s efforts to address the issue.
“The district was not
given an opportunity to refute and/or clarify any of the criticisms or items
that may have been misunderstood or misinterpreted before the report was made
public,” Stephens said in her statement. Under law, district officials have 90
days to prepare a written response to the grand jury’s findings and
recommendations.
“Nonetheless, the district
and this administration strongly believe in continuous improvement and will
continue to conduct ongoing reviews of our policies, systems and protocols,”
Stephens said.
She said the district has
learned from the past.
“The current
administration and Board of Education have been determined to implement new
systems, policies, protocols and training to detect suspected child abuse and
respond quickly and decisively,” Stephens said.
Lawyer: Problem ‘starts at
top’
Attorney Morgan Stewart,
whose Irvine law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi has represented most of the
former student victims and alleged victims in sexual abuse lawsuits in the last
six years, said in a statement that the school district’s failures noted in the
grand jury report are the same failures he has seen for the entirety of his
firm’s litigation.
He believes the grand jury
missed the mark on holding those responsible for the problem accountable:
administrators.
“They describe this as a
top-down problem. Maybe it is time to replace the top down,” Stewart said. “I
have never viewed the teachers as the problem in the district, it is the
administration that is the problem. The grand jury report does not recognize
the history of behaviors by administrators that the district continues to
employ.”
He said he has three civil
lawsuits pending against the district, and is about to file another lawsuit as
well.
Charles J. Hobson, a
professor of management at Indiana University Northwest and author of the book,
“Passing the Trash: A Parent’s Guide to Combat Sexual Abuse/Harassment of Their
Children in School,” agrees with Stewart that Redlands Unified officials should
be held accountable.
“The problem starts at the
top,” he said. “The superintendent and other district officials should be held
criminally liable for failing to take the necessary corrective actions to
prevent this problem. From my perspective, they and other mandated reporters should
be considered accessories to child sexual abuse and prosecuted.”
Stephens countered that
since Superintendent Mauricio Arellano was hired in 2017, the district has
addressed its past deficiencies, which school board President Patty Holohan
characterized as a “teachable moment for RUSD leadership.”
“We are proud the Grand
Jury report validated that ‘RUSD follows the letter of law in the reporting of
suspected abuse of children’ and that the district is ‘commended for increasing
training’ since 2017,” Stephens said. “And, as always, we will continue to
regularly assess our policies, systems, and protocols and adjust accordingly.”
Findings ‘not an anomaly’
Terri L. Miller, president
of the Las Vegas-based nonprofit Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and
Exploitation, said she isn’t surprised the grand jury found lingering mandated
reporting deficiencies at Redlands Unified.
“Sadly, these findings by
the grand jury are not an anomaly,” Miller said in an email. “The greatest form
of neglect regarding sexual misconduct by school staff of students is lack of
education of all stakeholders on defining and identifying misconduct, lawful
mandated reporting to proper authorities, transparency and consistent adherence
to policies designed to protect students.
“All educators owe a duty
of care to students and parents,” she continued. “The fact of the matter is,
students can’t learn if they don’t feel safe. The grand jury’s finding that
victims suffer life-long trauma after being sexually abused at school is all
too familiar to us at S.E.S.A.M.E.”
Miller agrees with most of
the grand jury’s recommendations, but took issue with a suggestion that
Redlands Unified should retain documented allegations of sexual abuse and
grooming for a minimum of 10 years. She believes the records should be retained
in perpetuity.
“There should be no
opportunity for substantiated records of those who have committed sexual
misconduct/abuse of a student to ever be concealed to prevent child predators
from gaining employment in youth-serving organizations/institutions in the
future,” Miller said.
Redlands Daily Facts
By Joe Nelson and Scott Schwebke
February 3, 2022
