Parent of victim dissatisfied with harassment probe so far

Feb. 24—Since December, Crystal Lowe has awaited the results of an investigation into racial harassment at West Vigo High School in which her son was one of the victims.

She said she's dissatisfied with the outcome to-date and what she believes to be the Vigo County School Corp.'s lack of transparency. "I don't agree with any punishment anyone has gotten because no kid really got any kind of punishment, or an adult [staff member]," she said.

As far as staff, she believes a three-day unpaid suspension for one teacher/coach and a two-day unpaid suspension for the high school principal are "a joke."

The racial harassment involved students at West Vigo High School, which lead to two students transferring to South Vigo this year (and one last year) as well as an outside investigation on behalf of the school district.

The district has not released the investigative report.

Last month, interim superintendent Tom Balitewicz said that several students were suspended or recommended for expulsion, although they were still entitled to due process procedures. Lowe said it's her understanding most of those students are back in school.

"In addition, we are administering disciplinary action for current staff members that did not act responsibly or appropriately. Only by holding those responsible can we begin to rebuild trust," Balitewicz said at the Jan. 9 school board meeting.

Lowe said she's not backing down, and she has filed a complaint with the Vigo County Sheriff's Office over the racial harassment.

That complaint remains under investigation, said Sheriff John Plasse, who added he could not provide further details due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

In addition, Lowe still doesn't know results of an investigation in which J.D. Skelton visited her place of employment related to the racial harassment investigation.

Last month, the Vigo County School Board, through its lawyers, said it was investigating allegations that a newly elected board member (Skelton) had inappropriately visited and tried to influence the mother of one of the racial harassment victims at West Vigo High School.

The visit occurred Nov. 30 at Crystal Lowe's workplace while the school district investigation of the racial incidents was underway.

Board president Amy Lore said Tuesday in an email response to the Tribune-Star, "We will likely have comment on the investigation next week." The school board meets Monday.

Lowe said on Friday she's been told the results of the investigation are in the hands of the district's legal counsel at Bose, McKinney and Evans. She added she hopes to learn more next week.

Terry Clark, who spoke out at past board meetings about the need for a tough response, said Thursday, "I hope that there is more coming."

He, along with NAACP president Sylvester Edwards, are serving on a VCSC diversity task force that has been formed.

Edwards said that because of their involvement on the task force, they are limited in any comment they might make on the West Vigo matter.

The Vigo County School Corp. was asked for its response to criticisms leveled by Lowe. That response, provided by interim communication director Katie Shane, was:

"The Vigo County School Corp. is working towards creating and implementing a diversity plan for the district. With that plan in mind, diversity training for faculty and staff began this week. We look forward to moving forward in a positive direction."

Late last year, the school district confirmed that outside investigators were conducting a comprehensive, schoolwide probe into multiple claims of racial harassment involving West Vigo High School students. That investigation was completed in December.

The incidents included racial slurs; a West Vigo student on a social media video spelling out and saying a racial slur; and a student photo-edited so as to appear working in a cotton field.

The district employed an independent expulsion hearing officer as it began student disciplinary proceedings.

At the Dec. 12 meeting, several people, including Clark, called on the school district to take a tough stand in response to racial harassment incidents at West Vigo High School.

At the time, Clark stated, "This is a very serious situation ... It's plain out and out racial bullying — racist bullying."

Clark continued, "We're calling on you as the school corporation to put something with some teeth in it that says this type of behavior will not be tolerated. Anybody who is complicit in it is gone. Anybody who perpetrates it is gone."

At that same meeting, then-Superintendent Rob Haworth responded to the audience, "I think our actions will speak louder than our words during the next couple of weeks. I hope you will pay attention to those actions as they come out."

Haworth later stated, "We've got to get this right ... We have to demonstrate that we won't tolerate those actions" of racial harassment.

He said he hoped people ultimately would see that through the process used and actions taken, "we did take this investigation seriously, we do know there are issues and we're not going to sweep things under the rug."

In January, Balitewicz said the investigation "revealed racist actions perpetrated by a small group of students at West Vigo High School toward African American students. These actions included students using racist words and terms, racist pictures and videos and racist actions toward African American students."

The report also discussed students reporting these issues to certain staff who did not then take appropriate action.

Balitewicz also outlined several steps that would be taken in response, including diversity training and creation of a task force that will craft a corporation-wide plan to address issues pertaining to race.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue