This must be done carefully, but it must be done now. To ensure that the truth comes out, it would be best handled by an independent party.
The most pressing question is whether JFK leaders did enough to protect all members of the school community after hearing the female teacher’s allegation.
That teacher on Dec. 2 told Principal Lesley D. Wilson part of what she says happened. Then, after coming to believe school officials were not doing enough about it, the teacher brought a fuller account Dec. 18 to Northampton police. After conducting an investigation, police charged Herschel M. Levine on May 2 with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, and with annoying and accosting a person of the opposite sex.
Superintendent John Provost said in a statement last week he would look into how the school handled the matter – but not yet.
Provost said he would wait until the criminal matter is resolved. Provost may reason that with the accused teacher on paid leave, any threat to the school community has been removed. But that isn’t the full issue now. Members of the JFK community deserve to know sooner rather than later whether proper measures were taken in this case, in which school officials first heard the allegations in December but the accused teacher was not removed from the classroom until this month’s criminal charges. Levine has pleaded not guilty to both charges and his next court date is June 3. Depending on how the case unfolds, it could go on for months after that before being resolved.
By ordering a school-level review, Provost could help restore trust. If necessary, he could call for steps to strengthen how JFK’s leaders – and officials in all city schools – respond to similar situations.
In her police statement, the female teacher acknowledges she did not tell the principal “the explicit context and details” of what happened. She said that when she spoke with Wilson she was “scared and still in shock and disbelief about what had happened.” According to the timeline established in court records, that meeting came 12 days after the Nov. 20 incident that led police to bring charges.
Missing details in the teacher’s initial account may explain why the school’s internal investigation, which the superintendent described as “prompt and thorough … involving interviews of all sides and all identified witnesses,” did not lead JFK to alert police.
The president of the teachers’ union told the Gazette she believes the school’s investigation was thorough and that JFK “took all the necessary steps to protect the rights of both parties involved in the process.”
But if the school review was indeed thorough, it’s hard to understand why it did not uncover the full story the teacher brought to police only two weeks later.
In her statement to police, the teacher questioned whether the school was doing enough to investigate and to protect the “welfare and safety of the students that I care about so much.”
To be sure, the accused should not have been denied due process in the school inquiry. But given the nature of the allegations, and the fact that we’re talking about a school, this is more complicated than a dispute between co-workers.
Among the questions now: Under what circumstances should a complaint involving a teacher trigger immediate action, such as a paid or unpaid leave?
The police investigation notes that the teacher who says she was assaulted was not the only female employee at JFK who reported sexual advances by the accused when questioned by police. Were school officials aware of such reports and, if they were, how should it have affected their actions?
The teacher says she was told at JFK that nothing would be reported to police unless it was clear Levine had broken the law. But shouldn’t school officials err on the side of reporting and leave such legal questions for the police and courts to determine?
To their credit, JFK officials have been acting. On May 3, the day after Northampton police charged Levine, Wilson gathered her staff for a morning meeting.
As she explained in a letter home to parents and guardians that day, staff were asked to be alert to feelings students may have about the news of the charges and to refer them to counselors positioned as a “presence” in the building.
“Of utmost importance, the students remain our highest priority,” Wilson wrote. “We also know that what is most helpful to students is for them to follow their predictable routines in the safety of their school community.” She closed the letter by inviting parents and guardians to contact the school “should your child express difficulty or concern at home.”
By sending that letter, Wilson expressed an understanding that parents and guardians want to know how the school handled a troubling situation.
They also have a right to know whether Wilson’s initial response was as sound. The letter asks the community to believe JFK is handling this crisis.
Provost’s inquiry can help answer whether it is ready to handle the next one.