RHODE ISLAND
Rhode Island Public Radio
By ELISABETH HARRISON
Governor Gina Raimondo has signed a bill requiring schools to contact child welfare authorities when they suspect sexual abuse of their employees. The bill also requires the state’s child welfare office to investigate allegations of abuse in schools.
The bill was inspired by the investigation of St. George’s School, an elite boarding school on Aquidneck Island, where dozens of former students have alleged abuse by staff and fellow students.
The school has apologized and offered to pay for counseling, but an internal report found the school never reported the abuse to child welfare authorities.
State police closed their investigation of St. George’s in June without filing a single criminal charge. Authorities said laws in place in the 1970s and 80s, when much of the abuse allegedly took place, made charges impossible. And State Police cited statutes of limitation as the reason they could not pursue charges against the school, for failing to report the abuse.
While Rhode Island does have a mandatory reporting law for child abuse, including sexual abuse, an investigation by Rhode Island Public Radio revealed significant questions about whether it applies to abuse by school employees. As RIPR reported, the state Department of Children, Youth and Families interprets the law relatively narrowly.
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