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Federal officials to investigate Pinellas schools' handling of molestation allegation

 
"We're relieved that the Office of Civil Rights is taking seriously our complaint against Pinellas County Schools, and confident that our 12-year-old daughter's sexual assault at John Hopkins Middle School will be a catalyst for some much-needed change," the girl's parents, Annette Vedsegaard-Ross and Stephen Ross, of Gulfport, said in a statement.  [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]
"We're relieved that the Office of Civil Rights is taking seriously our complaint against Pinellas County Schools, and confident that our 12-year-old daughter's sexual assault at John Hopkins Middle School will be a catalyst for some much-needed change," the girl's parents, Annette Vedsegaard-Ross and Stephen Ross, of Gulfport, said in a statement. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]
Published March 19, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG — Federal civil rights officials are investigating the Pinellas County School District for its handling of a January molestation case involving a 12-year-old girl with a hearing disability.

A lawyer for the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights wrote to the girl's parents last week, informing them that investigators will look at three areas where John Hopkins Middle School administrators might have violated federal law regarding sexual discrimination and disability harassment in schools.

"We're relieved that the Office of Civil Rights is taking seriously our complaint against Pinellas County Schools, and confident that our 12-year-old daughter's sexual assault at John Hopkins Middle School will be a catalyst for some much-needed change," the girl's parents, Annette Vedsegaard-Ross and Stephen Ross of Gulfport, said in a statement.

Pinellas schools spokeswoman Lisa Wolf said Wednesday the district "will respond to all requests made by the Office of Civil Rights in regards to the investigation."

The Department of Education has pursued similar investigations into dozens of colleges across the country, including the University of South Florida and Florida State University, for their handling of campus rape cases.

The inquiry means the Office for Civil Rights has determined it has jurisdiction in the case and the family filed its complaint in a timely manner.

Vedsegaard-Ross filed her complaint last month. Her daughter, a sixth-grade magnet student at the school, reported being sexually assaulted by a classmate in the band room Jan. 12. She said a 12-year-old boy grinded against her buttocks as she bent to put away her saxophone in a storage locker at the end of class while other students stood nearby and heckled.

The boy was suspended from school for two weeks; prosecutors later declined to move forward with a charge of lewd and lascivious molestation against him.

The Times does not usually identify victims of sexual assault.

Vedsegaard-Ross has said that, after she brought the assault allegation to school administrators, they repeatedly tried to minimize the situation. Principal Barry Brown, she said, started to call the assault "horseplay" before stopping mid-word.

School officials offered to transfer the boy out of her daughter's classes and to provide the girl with an escort between classrooms, Vedsegaard-Ross said. But they never offered the girl counseling or openly discussed Title IX, the federal law governing gender and sexual discrimination in schools that accept federal funding.

When Vedsegaard-Ross asked Brown to seek a transfer for the boy to a different school, she said, he refused.

The school district said it handled the case appropriately, contacting law enforcement immediately and disciplining the boy.

According to its letter, the Office for Civil Rights will investigate whether the district failed to adequately respond to the girl's complaint, possibly subjecting her to a sexually hostile environment and thus violating Title IX.

The office also plans to investigate whether the district's response allowed the girl to be subjected to a hostile environment based on her disability and whether that meant she was denied a free appropriate public education because of disability harassment.

Investigators generally try to wrap up their work in about six months, but complex cases might take longer, according to a Department of Education spokesman.

The Office for Civil Rights might determine the school did nothing wrong, or the district could settle the matter with the government. If found in violation of the law, the school system would have to work with the office on a resolution agreement and steps toward compliance, according to the Department of Education's website.

The Hillsborough County School District has been under federal supervision for Title IX since 2011.

Vedsegaard-Ross' daughter never returned to John Hopkins after the assault and now attends a small private school. Her parents said in their statement that students with disabilities like their daughter are "especially vulnerable to sexual violence in the schools."

The girl has had four surgeries, her mother said, and suffers from fluctuating hearing loss. She had an Individual Education Plan in school because of her disability and sometimes had to use an amplification device to hear in class.

About half an hour before the alleged molestation, Vedsegaard-Ross said, the boy hit the girl in the face, balling his fist behind her ear and loudly whispering her name so she would turn into the punch. It was bullying, Vedsegaard-Ross said, and when she brought it up to Brown, he accused her of "snowballing" her reports. The district has declined to make Brown available for an interview.

In a statement in October, Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education, reminded school officials across the country about the importance of addressing bullying against disabled students.

Her statement linked to a fact sheet for parents that said schools must "take immediate and appropriate action to investigate" bullying of students with disabilities and "regardless of whether the student is being bullied based on his or her disability," administrators must "remedy the effects" in a way that does "not burden the student who has been bullied."

Vedsegaard-Ross said her family has not hired a lawyer and says their goal is to hold the School District accountable.

"Parents are tired of school administrators hiding the facts and fudging the data when it comes to school violence and bullying," she said. "Hopefully, this investigation will put an end to the culture of negligence and lack of accountability, which starts at the very top."

Times staff writer Lisa Gartner contributed to this report. Contact Zachary T. Sampson at zsampson@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8804.