Post by LFC on Nov 12, 2021 15:11:59 GMT
I'm starting this thread to encompass the host of other institutions other than the Catholic Church who have spent years protecting their reputation by stomping on the victims.
First up a school in North Carolina that suspended a 15-year old girl for reporting her attack. I'm sure it won't shock any of you to hear that this fits into a pattern with a long history.
First up a school in North Carolina that suspended a 15-year old girl for reporting her attack. I'm sure it won't shock any of you to hear that this fits into a pattern with a long history.
When news broke that a 15-year-old student at Hawthorne Academy in North Carolina had been suspended after reporting an alleged sexual assault to her school, the country was shocked. Other students in her school district were not.
For years, students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District have brought forward horrifying allegations of sexual assault—being assaulted in the woods, raped in school bathrooms, groped on school buses—and claimed administrators and resource officers discouraged them from reporting the attacks. They have filed lawsuits, hosted town halls, and initiated federal investigations. Now they are taking to the street.
“[The district is] more focused on their reputation and money and how people perceive them… than they are about the actual students,” said Serena Evans, a former CMS student who claims she was sexually assaulted at school in 2016.
“We’re hoping that this becomes… an actual movement where it goes nationwide, where other schools and other school districts start talking about this stuff and taking it seriously.”
For years, students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District have brought forward horrifying allegations of sexual assault—being assaulted in the woods, raped in school bathrooms, groped on school buses—and claimed administrators and resource officers discouraged them from reporting the attacks. They have filed lawsuits, hosted town halls, and initiated federal investigations. Now they are taking to the street.
“[The district is] more focused on their reputation and money and how people perceive them… than they are about the actual students,” said Serena Evans, a former CMS student who claims she was sexually assaulted at school in 2016.
“We’re hoping that this becomes… an actual movement where it goes nationwide, where other schools and other school districts start talking about this stuff and taking it seriously.”
News of the suspension sparked outcry in the community and spurred national headlines. But what outraged readers did not know was that the district had long been accused of covering up sexual assaults—starting in 2015, when a Myers Park High School student reported being raped in the woods near campus. That student’s report led to a federal Department of Education investigation into the district, which found the school had violated her rights by failing to tell her that it had deemed her complaint "mutual sexual contact" and closed the case.
In the years following, that student and one other sued the district, claiming administrators had discouraged them from filing reports in the first place. But the news did not gain traction until this summer, when the second survivor settled her suit with the district and decided to speak out.
That student, now-22-year-old Nikki Wombwell, told The Daily Beast she was frustrated by the legal process, during which she felt the school refused to take accountability. So she took the first settlement they offered her and started sharing her story with the local press.
In interviews, and in her suit against the district, Wombwell claims she was being harassed by an abusive ex-boyfriend during her sophomore year at Myers Park. One day, she says, he threatened to bring a gun to school if she refused to meet him after class. When she agreed, he allegedly led her back to the woods outside of the school and raped her over the sound of her protests. She reported the incident to the school the next day, but says the student remained on campus.
A month and half later, Wombwell says, when the student refused to stop harassing her, she reported him again. This time, she claims a school resource officer told her that there was not enough evidence of duress to support a rape charge. She says she was taken to see then-Principal Mark Bosco, who warned her she could be disciplined if she reported the incident and was found not to have told the truth. (The school has admitted that the resource officer told Wombwell there was not enough information to support a criminal charge, but denied any “actions or statements by Bosco intending to discourage [Wombwell] from taking any action.”)
Wombwell decided not to report, and says she spent the next two and a half years avoiding her alleged assailant in the hallways and at after-school events. She cried at graduation when he walked across the stage to get his diploma.
“There was always that fear that he was on campus, and the sadness and anger that nothing was really done,” she said.
News of Wombwell’s story caused an uproar in the local community, who demonstrated outside Myers Park and staged a protest at a board of education meeting. A petition demanding justice for Myers Park survivors garnered nearly 74,000 signatures. At the same time, multiple other students and graduates came forward to say that their sexual assault reports had been mishandled by the school, too.
One of those students was Evans, a former student who claims she was sexually assaulted by a student athlete in the men’s locker room in 2016. Evans and her mother quickly reported the assault to the school and the police department, though charges were never filed. Like Wombwell, Evans says administrators warned her that she could be disciplined if her report was deemed inaccurate, and that it could impact her college admissions chances.
In the years following, that student and one other sued the district, claiming administrators had discouraged them from filing reports in the first place. But the news did not gain traction until this summer, when the second survivor settled her suit with the district and decided to speak out.
That student, now-22-year-old Nikki Wombwell, told The Daily Beast she was frustrated by the legal process, during which she felt the school refused to take accountability. So she took the first settlement they offered her and started sharing her story with the local press.
In interviews, and in her suit against the district, Wombwell claims she was being harassed by an abusive ex-boyfriend during her sophomore year at Myers Park. One day, she says, he threatened to bring a gun to school if she refused to meet him after class. When she agreed, he allegedly led her back to the woods outside of the school and raped her over the sound of her protests. She reported the incident to the school the next day, but says the student remained on campus.
A month and half later, Wombwell says, when the student refused to stop harassing her, she reported him again. This time, she claims a school resource officer told her that there was not enough evidence of duress to support a rape charge. She says she was taken to see then-Principal Mark Bosco, who warned her she could be disciplined if she reported the incident and was found not to have told the truth. (The school has admitted that the resource officer told Wombwell there was not enough information to support a criminal charge, but denied any “actions or statements by Bosco intending to discourage [Wombwell] from taking any action.”)
Wombwell decided not to report, and says she spent the next two and a half years avoiding her alleged assailant in the hallways and at after-school events. She cried at graduation when he walked across the stage to get his diploma.
“There was always that fear that he was on campus, and the sadness and anger that nothing was really done,” she said.
News of Wombwell’s story caused an uproar in the local community, who demonstrated outside Myers Park and staged a protest at a board of education meeting. A petition demanding justice for Myers Park survivors garnered nearly 74,000 signatures. At the same time, multiple other students and graduates came forward to say that their sexual assault reports had been mishandled by the school, too.
One of those students was Evans, a former student who claims she was sexually assaulted by a student athlete in the men’s locker room in 2016. Evans and her mother quickly reported the assault to the school and the police department, though charges were never filed. Like Wombwell, Evans says administrators warned her that she could be disciplined if her report was deemed inaccurate, and that it could impact her college admissions chances.
