CMS suspends principal, assistant after reported campus sexual assault
Two top administrators at a Charlotte high school have been suspended with pay after a female student faced punishment after reporting to school officials she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom on campus.
The case stems from a reported sexual assault on the second day of school at Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences, school and police records show. About two weeks later, in September, the student reported she’d been followed into a bathroom and a 17-year-old boy touched her breasts and attempted to put his hands down her pants. He was later criminally charged, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.
But an internal school investigation — which was recently reopened — concluded the female student had lied about what happened and the school informed her and her mother on Oct. 18 that she’d be suspended for one day.
The district also told the mother that her daughter would have to take a “Sexual Harassment Is Preventable,” or SHIP, class. It’s not clear if the accused student also has to take the class. So far, CMS officials have refused to answer questions about the case, citing student privacy concerns.
According to CMS officials, SHIP is a class for students involved in serious incidents of sexual harassment or inappropriate sexual behaviors at school or a school activity.
Diann Weston, the principal at Hawthorne Academy, and Nina Adams, the assistant principal and Title IX liaison, were suspended Tuesday afternoon, according to a message sent to families at the school. Two district officials confirmed with the Observer that the decision to suspend the leaders came from the superintendent’s office. The decision comes roughly a week after WBTV first reported about the school’s initial decision to suspend the girl.
A police report says the teen boy has been accused before of sexual misconduct at the school, though details about an earlier case are not known. The CMPD report lists two female students as victims, with one reported assault stemming from an incident in February 2020 at the school. CMPD confirmed to the Observer the male student has been charged with two counts of sexual battery.
It’s unclear whether the male student was disciplined in either case, and it’s unclear what school leaders knew about sexual contact between the students before the girl’s report of assault.
The suspensions come as Hawthorne officials had already informed the family they were reopening the case. The girl’s mother — who the Observer is not identifying in order to protect the identity of the student — says she was angry her daughter was accused of lying after coming forward about being sexually assaulted.
According to documents the Observer obtained from the girl’s mother after the school’s initial Title IX investigation, officials concluded there was no evidence of a violation of the sexual harassment policy (which also covers sexual assault) and suspended the 15-year-old female for a day for “falsification of information.” The girl’s mother says her daughter was told she needed to sign a non-disclosure agreement about her pending punishment.
The 15-year-old has yet to serve the suspension, and she did not sign the agreement.
Weston has been the principal at Hawthorne Academy since 2014. The message to parents stated that an interim principal will be assigned to Hawthorne Academy, which has an enrollment of about 307.
“She continued to go to school even though it was hard because at this point she didn’t know who she could trust,” her mom told the Observer. “It took a lot for her to tell school officials what happened to her.”
A month later, the girl and her mother were told the school found no evidence of sexual misconduct but, as reported first by WBTV, the district said the girl would be suspended for one day and required to take the SHIP course.
The girl’s mother says the boy who assaulted her daughter is still on campus though he signed a letter from the school agreeing to have no contact with her.
Title IX issues at Charlotte schools
These details are again raising questions about how the school district carries out its Title IX duties — the subject of previous Observer investigations — and treats girls who come forward about being harassed or raped at school. Title IX is a part of federal education law that prohibits discrimination based on sex and requires that schools thoroughly investigate harassment or sexual violence reports from students or staff.
The Hawthorne case prompted a student-led, peaceful protest last week.
CMS’s handling of sexual incidents in schools has drawn the ire of many — and recently attention from Catherine Truitt, the North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction.
On Saturday, Truitt posted on Twitter in response to WSOC’s report of the Hawthorne case: “This is unacceptable by the local school administration if true. Schools need to be safe environments for all our students, not places where they are victimized by sexual predators and then by school administrators ...”
She also said her division of the Center for Safer Schools will look into the matter to ensure “safeguards and policies are put in place across the state so situations like this do not become the norm.”
Adding to criticism, students at Olympic High last month staged a walk-out protest after learning that a male student criminally charged with sexual assault was allowed to play in a recent football game while wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor. In response, several volleyball players at Olympic were suspended from a game as punishment for participating in the protest — a decision that’s also led to widespread criticism.
The Observer reported that the football player’s charges stemmed from an off-campus reported sexual crime and preceded a case of a second Olympic student, a 15-year-old, who was charged last month after a female student reported to police she’d been raped at school.
Shortly after the Olympic protest, CMS announced embattled Myers Park High Principal Mark Bosco was given a new job, following a nearly-three month investigation and suspension prompted by complaints from students that he and other leaders mishandled past reports of sexual assault and harassment on campus. Bosco, who was at the helm of Myers Park for about eight years before being suspended in August, accepted a position as the district’s senior administrator for expanded learning and partnerships.
The Observer recently reported that two former Myers Park High students who filed lawsuits, and a third who reported being raped in a boy’s bathroom stall on campus, weren’t included in a CMS recent investigation into how administrators handled past sexual assault cases on that campus.
Last month, a 15-year-old girl reported being sexually assaulted on the campus of West Charlotte High School, police said. CMPD said the report involved two juveniles. Also in October, police investigated a report that a 13-year-old girl was assaulted on her school bus in Charlotte. In a message to parents, Randolph Middle School Principal Kevin Woods said at the time school administrators were “working with all stakeholders to gather information related to the alleged incident. Our school remains committed to the safety of our students both on campus as well as our school buses.”
Superintendent Earnest Winston issued a statement last week on sexual incidents on district campuses.
“We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously, and our staff is trained to follow proper procedures in reporting,” Winston said. “District leaders review assertions of Title IX reporting problems and will take appropriate action in the event any review reveals action is necessary.
“Earlier this year, I requested the creation of a Title IX task force. That task force has been working together to discuss recommended improvements in how our district handles allegations of misconduct. In a few weeks, I will receive a report from the task force. I will review the report for recommendations to make our schools safer.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 7:41 PM.
