Crime & Safety
Parents Want Better Transparency For Reports of Sexual Abuse at School
Questions are being raised over why parents were not initially informed of a special needs student being sexually abused at a Chatsworth school.
Chatsworth parents told Los Angeles Unified School District officials on Wednesday that they were upset over not being immediately informed of a student's sexual assault by a classmate in 2010 at Superior Street Elementary School, Post Periodical reports.
A special-needs student was assaulted five times by a 10-year-old and it was eventually discovered by a faculty member during an after school program, the website reports. Because the perpetrator was a child, the incident was not reported to other parents to protect his identity.
The Los Angeles Times reported in May of a $1.4 million cash settlement to the special needs student's family.
"What difference does it make whether it’s staff or another child? The fact of the matter is parents want to know,” parent Filiberto Gonzalez said during the meeting. “Almost to a person, [other parents] are shocked and they are bewildered by the lack of transparency.”
One school board member said she would draft a plan on informing parents of misconduct, but was unsure where to draw the line on what types of incidents should be reported, according to Post Periodical.
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