Rossford Schools Reviews Sexual Harassment Policy after Murtha Incidents

By Jay Skebba
The Blade
June 29, 2019

https://www.toledoblade.com/local/education/2019/06/29/rossford-schools-reviews-sexual-harassment-policy-former-administrator-pat-murtha/stories/20190629003

Rossford Schools is considering changes to its sexual harassment policy after being criticized for concluding female students touched against their wishes by a former school administrator weren’t sexually harassed because their academic performance didn’t suffer.

The move would make Rossford an outlier among most of its neighbors, as many school districts throughout the Toledo area — including Rossford — use the exact same policy language to determine if an employee committed sexual harassment.

But what actions specifically fall under those guidelines can be left up to interpretation, and that means different districts likely would have interpreted the sort of situation that transpired in Rossford in different ways.

The debate over what constitutes sexual harassment at Rossford Schools surfaced this spring when Pat Murtha resigned as athletic director and assistant high school principal. Mr. Murtha resigned April 22, and records from a district investigation obtained by The Blade in May concluded he engaged in the following behavior:

Mr. Murtha, who served as an anti-harassment compliance officer, often pinched or pulled a girl’s nose, tugged on her ears, rubbed her head, messed up her hair, and took her food without asking. She asserted Mr. Murtha touched her about 40 times since the middle of the 2017-2018 school year.

Another student said Mr. Murtha complimented her appearance, such as saying her hair looked nice, before then touching her hair. She added he would at other times play with her hair, stand uncomfortably close to her, and once grazed her entire buttocks as she turned away.

Students said they observed Mr. Murtha staring at their “private areas,” which made them uncomfortable.

District administrators launched an investigation of Mr. Murtha’s actions after students complained, and Rossford curriculum director and anti-harassment compliance officer Megan Spangler determined in her report his conduct violated the district’s anti-harassment policy. However, she said it was not sexual harassment because the girls did not describe the behavior as being “so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it interfered with their educational performance or that it created a hostile educational environment.”

That explanation did not sit well with many community members. All school board members had kept mum on the investigation’s conclusions for months until June when school board member Tiffany Densic called it “demeaning and degrading” in an interview with The Blade.

She called on the district to review its sexual harassment policy, which Superintendent Dan Creps has said would happen soon.

Rossford is a customer of Neola, an Indiana-based company that provides policy language for 508 school districts in Ohio and serves five other states. Area districts that contract with the company include Anthony Wayne, Bowling Green, Ottawa Hills, Maumee, Perrysburg, Sylvania, and Bedford Public Schools.

Sexual harassment policies in Rossford, Maumee, Perrysburg, Sylvania, and Bedford all contain nearly identical language, and all of them include a line about academic performance and whether actions have the “purpose or effect of interfering with the individual’s work or educational performance.”

However, administrators from those districts all said that they do not weigh a student’s academic performance when investigating possible sexual harassment.

“That has absolutely nothing to do with it,” said Aura Norris, executive director of human resources for Perrysburg Schools.

Ms. Norris added harassment of a student can cross over to sexual harassment based on how the victim interpreted the actions. Ms. Norris said the district takes all matters of harassment seriously, and she must conduct an investigation even if she hears of an incident, whether it was formally reported or not.

Carl Shultz, superintendent of Bedford Public Schools, said navigating the gray area between harassment and sexual harassment relies on the circumstances of each unique situation. For both student and employee-victims, administrators consider amorphous factors like an individual’s perception of a given situation. One person who experiences a situation may look at it as jovial and fun, while another may feel uncomfortable in part because of previous experiences, he said.

The district enlists the help of third-party attorneys to review complaints within the context of its policies, state and federal law, and case law. But Mr. Shultz added academic or job performance is not a factor in determining if a student or employee has been harassed, or what type of harassment they may have been subjected to.

“That will never play into that determination,” he said.

Keith Limes, assistant superintendent of operations for Sylvania Schools, offered similar thoughts.

“Academic or job performance is not part of the consideration,” he said. “All reports of harassment are taken seriously and investigated. Findings of harassment will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.”

Toledo Public Schools do not contract with Neola. Chief of Staff Jim Gant said the district drafts its own policies and then has them assessed by the Ohio School Board Association.

Mr. Gant said all forms of harassment are not tolerated in the district, and TPS also does not consider academic or job performance when investigating sexual harassment claims involving students or staff.

“There’s a certain code of conduct that frankly most of the employees of the district have,” Mr. Gant said. “If there is harassment whether you’re an excellent employee or a poor employee, it really doesn’t matter. There are certain conducts that have to be addressed, so that [performance] would not be factored in.”

Ms. Spangler called Neola, ‘a great asset to the district,” and said district leaders meet with company representatives often to review current policies and discuss any changes to state and federal law that might require language in current policies be changed.

“In this instance, we’re reaching out to them to see what anti-harassment policy templates and options they have,” Ms. Spangler wrote. “They also give advice and counsel to us if we have our own language to add to a policy.”

Neola refused to make anyone available for an interview to answer questions regarding the formation of policies. Rossford has paid the company $3,307 this year for various services.

In an email to The Blade, Ms. Spangler said a committee of district administrators and board members are reviewing the anti-harassment policy this summer. Rossford is examining what other districts are doing and discussing whether to add language based on the situation involving Mr. Murtha.

Ms. Spangler also said the district will add at least one more compliance officer — all of whom will receive additional training. She said it’s possible changes could be brought to the board before the new school year.

Claudia Vercellotti, coordinator of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, urged Rossford officials to change the policy.

“If your policy is written that way, how has that stood the test of time? That’s terrible,” she said. “If your grades don’t suffer, then you’re OK? That completely disregards someone’s physical and emotional well-being. That’s a lot more important than getting an A or B on their report card.”

She also stressed the importance of calling sexual harassment what it is and distinguishing it from basic harassment.

“It’s disturbing and sets us back to the 1950s when school officials dare to minimize the battery of these kids,” Ms. Vercellotti said. “The unwanted touching of a child is the simplest definition of battery. To minimize these crimes against kids disables others from coming forward who may have information or may have been abused by another trusted adult.”

An Ohio Department of Education spokesman didn’t answer a question about whether the department views harassment differently than sexual harassment when reviewing a teacher or administrator’s license.

“Cases are handled on a case-by-case basis and are decided on the individual facts of each case,” spokesman Carolyn Cypret said.

Ms. Densic has been outspoken about Rossford needing to implement policy changes and is working with state legislators to make sure employees like Mr. Murtha don’t end up in another district.

She is also pushing for mandatory training for all adults employed by the schools. According to the district’s investigation, multiple adults witnessed Mr. Murtha’s behavior but did not report it. Some told investigators they were afraid of retaliation.

So far, Ms. Densic said she’s encouraged by Rossford’s review process.

“I think it’s a great start; I’m glad we’re progressing forward,” she said.

But Rossford school officials are in the early stages of reviewing the policy and school board President Dawn Burks wouldn’t say if the intent at this time is to make a finding of sexual harassment more likely if a situation similar to Mr. Murtha’s arose again involving students.

“The goal is to look at our policies any time things come up with any of the questions about a policy and we’ll review it to see if things need to be changed or looked at,” she said. “Because of many people asking, this is why we’re looking at it again.”

Staff writers Alex Mester, Bri’on Whiteside, and Kate Snyder contributed to this report.