Presentation High: New independent office to handle sex abuse complaints

By John Woolfolk
Mercury News
February 20, 2018

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/presentation-high-new-independent-office-to-handle-sex-abuse-complaints/

Former Presentation High School students Kathryn Leehane (right) and Cheryl Hodgkin Marshall hug during a press conference Wednesday, November 22, 2017, in San Jose, California, recalling allegations of pervasive sexual abuse of students at the prestigious all-girls Catholic high school. Leehane wrote an article in the Washington Post detailing her abuse at the school, and Marshall attended to offer her support. Photo by Karl Mondon

A prominent San Jose Catholic girls high school, rocked by accusations that it failed for years to report sexual misconduct complaints against teachers and staff, announced Tuesday it will create a new independent office to handle such claims from students in the future.

The announcement came after Presentation High School officials spent months insisting they’ve had sound policies in place for protecting students from sexual harassment or abuse and properly handled complaints brought to their attention.

“We are committed to being proactive, forward-thinking and the gold standard for student safety in the prevention of sexual misconduct, abuse, harassment and bullying,” Principal Mary Miller said in a statement Tuesday.

The new Office for the Prevention of Student Bullying, Harassment and Abuse will report directly to Presentation’s board of directors, Miller said.

But Robert Allard, an attorney representing former students who complained of abuse, called the move “lipstick on a pig” that “will change nothing.” The current principal, Miller, accused by several former students of improperly handling their complaints, influences who sits on the board, Allard said. A former principal, Marian Stuckey, also accused of mishandling complaints, is a board member, he said. And the board isn’t qualified to deal with abuse allegations, he added.

“As long as Mary Miller and Marian Stuckey have control of the school and the board, student safety will always be at risk,” Allard said.

Tuesday’s announcement came as Presentation, a prestigious parochial school of 830 girls established in 1962, faces mounting criticism from former students who said school officials mishandled their complaints of being sexually harassed or abused by teachers, staff or others. One outside expert told this news organization that school officials would have violated California’s mandatory reporting law if they investigated the complaints themselves without reporting them to the authorities.

What began in October with a Washington Post article by Presentation graduate Kathryn Leehane detailing her frustrations after complaining to school officials of alleged sexual harassment by a teacher in the 1990s has grown to 20 students complaining about eight teachers or staff. The accusations range from inappropriate touching to unwanted sexual advances to leering.

The women have detailed their complaints on a website, garnered more than 6,400 signatures to an online petition demanding an investigation of how the school handled complaints, and urged other alumnae to withhold donations to the school until it does. Tuition at presentation costs $19,580 a year, though nearly one in five girls at the school receives financial aid.

The school has since brought in crisis communications expert Sam Singer to handle its response to ongoing questions.

The accusations date back more than 30 years, some by women who have publicly identified themselves, while others remain anonymous. Leehane and at least three other women identified their alleged abuser as a former teacher who has since died who remained at the school until he retired.

At least three women, one of whom fully identified herself, complained of unwanted advances by a former math teacher. Other alleged abusers included a coach and a community involvement staffer. A couple of allegations involved reported off-campus abuse by others not affiliated with the school that the women said they told a school official about, but it never was forwarded to police.

A key issue involves the legal requirement of school officials under California law since the early 1980s to report any suspected abuse of children to either police or a county child protective services agency.

The accusers have detailed online at least 11 cases in which they say they reported specific abuse to school officials who did not report it to authorities for investigation as required.

Singer on Tuesday would not detail Presentation’s handling of individual cases. The school has said it cannot discuss individual cases “due to privacy laws.” But Singer said that for six of those 11 specific cases — though he would not say which — Presentation officials had no recollection or records of any complaint.

Singer wouldn’t discuss the school’s response to the others. Miller said in a statement Tuesday that “today’s claims of past misconduct differ from what was originally reported.”

The school said in a statement earlier this month that “in all instances,” the administration “acted responsibly and followed the laws of California in handling the cases that were reported.” The statement added that “We have reported” complaints to authorities “when we had a reasonable suspicion of childhood abuse.”

A spokeswoman for San Jose police could not say Tuesday whether they were investigating any possible violation of California’s mandatory reporting of child abuse law.

But one San Jose school official has been prosecuted for violating the law recently. A jury in 2012 convicted former O.B. Whaley Elementary School principal Lyn Vijayendran of failing to report to police a girl’s description of a sexual-sounding activity while alone with a male teacher. That teacher, Craig Chandler, later was convicted of molesting five kids.

It was only the second time in two decades that Santa Clara County prosecutors had brought such a misdemeanor charge — and the first time they’d won. A judge dismissed allegations in 1999 that the head of Hillbrook School in Los Gatos failed to report a bruise on the face of a student.

But legal experts in the reporting law say such prosecutions are rare because the bar is so low for reporting suspicious behavior that most school officials comply.

“This statute is designed so that if you even thinking about investigating it, you need to report it” to authorities, said Christopher Schumb, a San Jose lawyer who has specialized in such cases over 30 years.

Though Schumb couldn’t comment on specific allegations regarding Presentation, he said that any case in which a complaint was made and school officials looked into it themselves would be troubling.

“My position always is that if the school initiates any kind of inquiry after a complaint is made, they’ve blown it,” Schumb said. “The purpose of the statute is so the districts don’t investigate and create a problem by improperly interviewing the kids. They should have reported it to the police. The police want to be the first through the door, the first to talk to the kids.”