5 school officials charged with failing to report suspected sexual assaults of Florida HS student
A Florida high school principal and four other school district staff members were arrested Monday on charges involving failure to report suspected sexual assaults against a 15-year-old student.
The district employees are charged with repeatedly failing to report two suspected sexual assaults that happened off campus that they were made aware of through a letter written in pink ink by the victim's friend. The student pleaded with school administrators to address the incidents as she was afraid for her friend's life.
Palm Beach Central High Principal Darren Edgecomb, 58, assistant principals Nereyda Cayado de Garcia, 37 and Daniel Snider, 49, and choral teacher Scott Houchins, 53, were arrested by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office along with Priscilla Carter, 55, currently a case worker in the district's SafeSchools office, at about 10 p.m. Monday.
Palm Beach is located in South Florida along the Atlantic coast, north of Miami.
Florida school staffers mandated to report suspected abuse
By state law, all employees of the public school district, charter schools and private schools have "an affirmative duty to report all actual or suspected cases of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect." Failure to report child abuse to the Florida Department of Children and Families is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The victim of the suspected assaults reportedly attempted suicide in the summer of 2021. Sheriff's deputies who interviewed school administrators said that if the incidents had been "properly addressed before the summer," then the suicide attempt "could have potentially not taken place."
In a written statement issued Tuesday, Palm Beach County schools spokesperson Angela Cruz Ledford said the district would not comment on an open investigation, but all district employees involved had been reassigned to positions where they will not have contact with students.
"The allegations involving students occurred off of school property and over a weekend. However, no matter when or where any alleged assault against a student occurs, our policy aligns with the law, which requires all personnel to report suspected abuse," she said.
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Friend of suspected victim wrote letter to school
The charges stem from incidents in April and August 2021. The sheriff's office reports are heavily redacted, blacking out many of the names of the staff members who were arrested.
In June 2021, a female friend of a 15-year-old student at Palm Beach Central wrote a letter detailing two times the student had been sexually assaulted by two boys. The unnamed friend wrote that she had witnessed both assaults and that the two boys were "not taking no for an answer."
The friend also said the student had been engaging in self-harm and that she was worried her friend was contemplating ending her life.
The student’s friend gave the letter to Palm Beach Central chorus teacher Houchins, who routed it to the school’s guidance office. Houchins did not report the allegations of sexual assault.
Later, Priscilla Carter, a school behavioral health specialist at the time, called the student down to her office. After speaking with her, Carter determined she was not a risk to herself.
The arrest report alleges Carter also did not report the suspected sexual assaults to DCF or to law enforcement and did not ask the student about them. Carter asked the teen only about suicidal thoughts and whether she felt safe in her relationship, the report says.
The student told Carter she felt safe because she was not dating the boy who she said assaulted her.
The student said she was assaulted by a different boy in August 2021.
Student told assistant principal about assault: Arrest report
School officials are accused of denying they knew about the letter that detailed the first reported assault. But on Aug. 16, the student herself reported the sexual assault to the assistant principal, Snider, the arrest report says. Snider asked her to provide a written report, which she did.
Snider took the report and shared it with Edgecomb, but again none of the school’s leaders reported that suspected assault to DCF, the arrest report says. The student made a second report about the suspected sexual assault to Cayado de Garcia on Aug. 17, and Cayado de Garcia shared that report with Edgecomb.
On Aug. 19, the principal met with top school leaders and told them he had conducted his own investigation of the sexual assault and determined that the assault did not happen. Edgecomb said that as a result of his investigation, the school did not need to report the allegations to law enforcement or DCF. He said that the student's interpretation of the events was different and that he wouldn't go "by hearsay."
Cayado de Garcia said she did not report the sexual assaults because there was no indication that the student wasn't safe, and therefore there was no need for the school to report the incident, the report says.
But Florida law says suspected child abuse also must be reported.
The student’s parents initially chose not to pursue criminal charges, because they told police they thought a legal battle would delay the student’s progress in healing from the incident. This year, they went to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office again with new information about what school leaders hadn't reported.
Similar incidents in Florida
Other educators in Florida have been arrested on charges of failing to report abuse and misconduct.
In May, a Hillsborough County charter school principal was arrested on two counts of failing to report abuse of a 7-year-old student, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The student was touched inappropriately by another student and in a separate incident, the child was reportedly thrown to the ground by a cafeteria worker. Principal Cristina Fuentes, of Channelside Academy of Math and Science in Tampa, said she didn't know she was required to report such incidents to the state.
Fuentes was placed on administrative leave as the police investigated the incidents.
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Edgecomb was on probation with the state for grade-changing scandal
Edgecomb has been the principal at Palm Beach Central since at least 2016.
In 2019, the school district’s inspector general found that Edgecomb and then-Assistant Principal Laurence Greenberg raised the grades of at least 11 students without their teachers’ knowledge.
The administrators failed to involve teachers or district leaders, investigators said.
According to their report, Greenberg said he "changed the student's grades because there were extenuating circumstances where the teachers targeted the students” and where “teachers unfairly graded the students' class performance or did not accept the students' class work.”
Edgecomb was put on probation for three years starting last October. He agreed to take a college-level course on leadership or two “microcredential” leadership courses offered by the National Education Association within his first year of probation.
He also agreed to abide by all state and local education rules and to accept a letter of reprimand for his part in the grade changes.
In 2010, when Edgecomb was the principal of Turning Points Academy near West Palm Beach, he was accused of punishing assistant principal Anne Williams Dorsey, who went on maternity leave, by demoting her and cutting her pay.
Five years later, the U.S. Justice Department sued the school district over the demotion. The school district reached a settlement in the case that cost $350,000.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sex abuse, here is a place that can help: RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: Call 800-656-4673 or chat at www.online.rainn.org.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sex abuse in Palm Beach County, here is a place that can help: Palm Beach County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center Help line: 561-833-7273; Toll-free: 866-891-7273.
Help is available for people experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts. Call the national 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work. Subscribe today!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: School officials charged with not reporting abuse at Palm Beach HS
