Managers fired at Eldora school for delinquent boys after therapist is accused of sex abuse
The superintendent, deputy superintendent and treatment program administrator at the State Training School at Eldora have been axed following an investigation into allegations that a counselor had phone sex with a delinquent boy and also discussed having sex in person, letters obtained by Watchdog under Iowa's open records law show.
The Jan. 31 housecleaning of top administrators at the state-run home for delinquent boys ages 12 to 18 comes as it has been under federal court monitoring for years to improve treatment of youth in its care. Despite much training, hiring, renovations, new spending and a shrinking census at the facility, however, allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by staff and students have continued, federal audit reports obtained under the open records law show.
The superintendent was fired for failing to enforce work rules, and the two other managers knew of allegations that a staff member was sexually exploiting a student but failed to report them, their termination letters allege.
More: Therapist who worked with at-risk youth at Iowa school faces sexual exploitation charges
Sarah Perry, 39, of Marshalltown faces a trial in May amid allegations she had an improper relationship with a teen she’d counseled since 2022. Perry resigned before her arrest last November, charged with two counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor and one count of sexual misconduct. Perry, who has pleaded not guilty, could not be reach Friday for comment.
The termination letters, obtained Friday, show Eldora Superintendent Jason Sodders was fired Jan. 31 for allegedly failing to enforce policies and work rules in place to protect youth at the facility, which has an annual budget of $20.5 million.
Sodders, 50, of Eldora, who was hired as superintendent at the beginning of 2022 after serving as interim superintendent, replaced former Superintendent Wendy Leiker, who resigned in August 2022, after just 11 months on the job. Officials said at the time that she resigned voluntarily during a "confidential personnel investigation" that was unrelated to a wave of student violence at the facility during her tenure.
Sodders could not be reached Friday for comment. His short termination letter said he refused to sign it.
The termination letters, written by State-Operated Specialty Care Division Director Cory Turner, show TaLana Holman, deputy director at the training school since 2020, was fired after the investigation found she knew as early as last September that the unidentified boy was being abused by a staff member and failed to act.
“The department concluded, based on the investigation findings, that your actions violated … policies and/or work rules and that you failed to properly act upon abuse allegations in a timely matter,” the letter sent to Holman, 38, of Ackley, said. “Given the gravity of the circumstances, termination of your employment is appropriate.”
Travis Galloway, the treatment manager, also was fired because he allegedly also knew as far back as September about the abuse, his letter shows. Holman and Galloway could not be reached Friday for comment.
A statement from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services said only, "While we are working quickly to hire a new superintendent, Cory Turner, State-Operated Specialty Care Division Director will remain the interim superintendent."
Turner did not respond to an email Friday seeking comment on the firings.
More: Shortage of youth mental health services in Iowa reaches crisis; families are in despair
Iowa doesn't disclose substantiated abuse allegations at facilities it oversees
DHHS substantiated anywhere from 753 to 813 cases of child sexual abuse maltreatment across Iowa from 2019 to 2022, but it has never made public the number of substantiated sexual abuse cases inside state-run or state-regulated homes that serve the child welfare and juvenile court systems.
In 2017, Disability Rights Iowa brought a class action lawsuit against the state's Department of Human Services, alleging improper use of restraints and other inhumane treatment at the school, including poor mental health care. At the time, the school housed nearly 100 boys, who had all been found legally delinquent for committing crimes. A federal judge ruled in favor of Disability Rights Iowa in 2020 and ordered appointment of a federal monitor to ensure the state's compliance.
Since then, Iowa officials have said protecting students and staff at the state training school is a priority. The school, which housed 50 to 60 students in 2023, has made strides in training, handling aggressive behavior and other measures that are still being monitored by the court, audit reports show. But it has suffered from high turnover and low morale, especially since the allegations against Perry, its 2023 report showed.
Five years of audits, required under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and obtained under open records law, also show allegations that sexual misconduct, abusive sexual contact and harassment — by staff and students — continue at the training school, though the numbers appear to be declining generally over time:
In 2023, seven investigations into allegations of sexual abuse took place at the school, which had 57 students and almost 140 staff at the time. All were investigated administratively, none criminally. Five were unfounded, and two were unsubstantiated. Unfounded means no credible evidence of the alleged abuse existed; unsubstantiated means there was not sufficient evidence to determine if the abuse occurred. Seven cases of sexual harassment also were reported, with three of them involving staff allegedly harassing students. None was investigated by police. One case characterized as staff harassing a student was substantiated. That case appears to have been the one involving Perry, though names were redacted. The report said the staff member resigned. In that report, school officials acknowledged it had not been standard practice to notify a student's parents, guardians, attorneys or juvenile court officers promptly following all allegations of sexual abuse. "Standard practice has been to notify these parties following credible allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment," it said. But the school is now acting to ensure prompt notification happens when allegations are made.
In 2022, the training school reported nine allegations of student-on-student sexual abuse or harassment, and two allegations of sexual misconduct by staff. It's unclear from the audit whether cases were substantiated. But that year, the state hired a full-time investigator for the first time to assist with the investigation of allegations.
In 2021, the school reported 25 allegations of nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contact or harassment, including two allegations of sexual misconduct by staff members. That year, staff were retrained in investigative techniques. It's unclear how many cases were substantiated.
In 2020, seven administrative sex abuse investigations took place, but six were unsubstantiated and one was unfounded. None involved staff. One staff member was reprimanded for violating the sexual harassment policy for comments that could be construed as sexual.
In 2019, 21 allegations of sexual abuse and harassment were investigated. Of those, four were allegations of sexual harassment by staff members. That year’s report did not say how many were substantiated, but it did say Eldora hired additional youth service workers and added two mental health staff to increase focus on trauma-informed care.
More: Legal battle looms: Lawsuit says Iowa fails to provide required mental health care for kids
2023 lawsuit alleges state denies mental health care to Medicaid-eligible children
While Eldora has stepped up its mental health treatment for the boys and young men in its care, Disability Rights Iowa also filed a class action lawsuit last January alleging the state is denying Medicaid-eligible children their legal right to mental health care. That case came as Iowa has struggled to meet what experts have called crisis-level mental health needs for youth.
That pending suit, filed along with national health and law advocacy organizations, accuses state officials of a "longstanding failure" to provide children with legally required and medically necessary mental and behavioral health services.
The judge's 2020 decision in Disability Rights Iowa's lawsuit required the state to address "considerations necessary to overcome the deficiencies" noted in the trial order, including policy, practice, staffing, training and internal oversight. The plan included 19 provisions related to mental health care and seven provisions related to seclusion.
In a report issued at the end of 2023, the court's monitor wrote that the school continues to make "steady and significant progress" in how youth behavior is managed and incentivized, in the use and duration of confinement, mental health treatment, activities, and renovations that allow for better safety and privacy. Some youth violence has been reduced, but it has also spiked during times of big change, the report said.
As the complex changes take place, the monitor noted, the facility remains in partial compliance.
But the report also noted that morale was quite low, with "concerns about a perceived lack of fairness toward staff and lack of professionalism among some colleagues." It also said turnover among youth workers last year was high, with about a third of the staff quitting.
“Not only is this an inefficient use of training resources, but it also makes it difficult to develop a more seasoned workforce," the end-of-year audit said.
Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa fires top managers at state-run Eldora school for delinquent boys
