Bedford schools blundered response to lewd photos of special needs student, review finds
No one at Fox Lane High School took charge of investigating a startling allegation in March that special education students were photographed partially nude in a bathroom, leading to a series of missteps, including delayed notification of the students' parents, a review has found.
The review, done by an independent agency hired in June by the Bedford Board of Education, found there was tremendous confusion at Fox Lane about what even took place and who was notified by school officials, in part because no one took real-time notes on evidence collected or students interviewed. As a result, the high school administration gave "incomplete and inaccurate" information to key constituencies.
The agency, Manhattan-based Kroll Associates, offered a sweeping recommendation that administrators and staff in the 3,900-student suburban district be trained on the "fundamentals of conducting effective investigations and communicating findings to key constituencies."
A Fox Lane teacher was first told of the photographs and video taken of two non-verbal students on March 11. But a Bedford Police detective assigned to the case was not provided with surveillance video by Fox Lane until March 28, according to the report.
After two Fox Lane students confessed on March 21 to taking photos, parents of student victims were not notified, the report said. Neither were the then-superintendent or Fox Lane's school resource officer.
School security: Who is protecting your kids at school. We asked (for subscribers)
Sandy Hook: On 10th anniversary, a mother seeks to ease the pain of others (for subscribers)
Restaurant closings: At least 44 in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam
A school board member first asked the administration about the incident on March 30, having been told about it by a member of the public. The school board had not been notified at that point.
The district posted the 57-page report on its website Tuesday evening. District officials and the school board would not comment on the report until a board meeting scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Four students identified as having taken the photos or video were suspended the maximum of five days, the report said, pending superintendent hearings that were held in April. At various hearings, photographs were described of students standing at urinals with buttocks exposed. A video on Snapchat was also linked to screenshots on phones.
The Westchester County District Attorney's Office said in June that charges would not be filed in the case.
Revelations stunned community
Revelations in March that Fox Lane students photographed and videoed male students with disabilities in a bathroom, and then posted photographs and video to social media, stunned the Bedford community and the wider region. Word spread after parents of two victimized students, told what happened by a teacher, contacted police March 18 and later sought information from the community.
In April, after parents castigated the school board for being slow to react and release information, the board said it would hire an independent firm to investigate. But the board did not retain Kroll Associates until June 6, leading to a drawn out process that has frustrated parents.
Paul Barger, a lawyer whose firm, Barger & Gaines, is representing the families of three victims, said the report highlights the district's failure to address the matter.
"This report illustrates what the families and the community unfortunately already knew: the District failed to act, and because of that, the most vulnerable members of our community became subject to harassment, bullying and embarrassment," he said in a statement. "It is deeply troubling and concerning that the administration showed so little concern and urgency to address what happened, and calls into question the culture of the building."
The firm has filed a notice of claim against the school district.
Karen Close, whose son was victimized and who has spoken out from the start about the district's failings, said she would reserve her comments for Wednesday evening's meeting. She is among those represented by Barger & Gaines.
The family of a fourth victim has not spoken out and is not represented by the firm.
A key question raised by parents in the spring was whether special education students were photographed before March 11. Kroll Associates found that the misconduct could extend back to 2021, but did not find any evidence that Fox Lane administrators knew of misconduct prior to March 11.
How it started
According to the report, a special education teacher, Mary Downes, was first told on Friday, March 11 by a student − described in the report as "the whistleblower" − that two of her students had been photographed in a bathroom. The teacher took the student to see the dean, Keith Alleyne, who said the administration would take care of it. Alleyne spoke shortly thereafter with Assistant Principal Jason Spector, and the two discussed whether the incident could have involved pornographic images.
Spector said they would address it the following week, according to the report. Fox Lane Principal Brett Miller said he learned of the March 11 incident "early the following week." A police officer assigned to the school, Officer Christopher Colello, said he was not notified until the following Wednesday, March 16. Edward Escobar, the district's director of pupil services, was not told until Thursday the 17th. Then-Bedford Superintendent Joel Adelberg, who was already scheduled to retire June 30, said he was informed toward the end of the week of March 14.
From there, Kroll Associates had to reconstruct what happened based on interviews of administrators, police and others. In several cases, Fox Lane administrators did not remember who initially interviewed which students, the report said.
Kroll Associates also reviewed surveillance video from March 11, which showed two special education students, later identified as the victims, entering and exiting the bathroom. Another student left the bathroom with a phone in his hand and immediately spoke with the whistleblower student.
According to the report, another Fox Lane dean, Daniel Mulvey, interviewed several students in question on March 21 and, in an email to other administrators, wrote that two students admitted to taking pictures early in the 2020-21 school year. One of the students said he shared a photo in a private group on Snapchat, but that others may have screenshotted the image.
Adelberg and Officer Chris Colello, the school resource officer, told Kroll Associates that they did not recall ever being told that two students had confessed to taking the photos.
On March 31, according to the report, Miller sent an email to Adelberg making it sound as if the investigation was not proceeding: "As of yesterday, my understanding is that 4/5 students have been questioned by police to no avail. This is still no evidence of who might have done (sic) and if it exists."
The report concluded: "The March 21st admissions confirmed the misconduct alleged by the Whistleblower had actually happened. Miller was in possession of evidence the students had taken compromising photos and video of special education students in the boys bathroom and circulated them to others, although not definitively on March 11th. As a result, Miller should not have been making statements to key constituencies after March 21st that the administration had no evidence misconduct had occurred in the boys bathroom."
Kroll Associates stressed that Bedford has no policies requiring the notification of families when a student may have been a victim of harassment, bullying or misconduct, which may have contributed to a delay in contacting families. The report found that at least 22 other districts in Westchester require parental notification within one school day when their children are "involved in incidents of harassment or bullying either as the victim or the accused."
The report did credit Fox Lane's special education staff for quickly acting in March to improve security and privacy for students using a bathroom. The staff responded "promptly, thoughtfully and comprehensively," it said.
Gary Stern is a veteran editor/writer covering K-12 education in the Hudson Valley. Reach him at gstern@lohud.com. Twitter: @garysternNY.
Click here for his latest.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Bedford NY schools blundered review of lewd student photos, report says
