Here we go again

Whether an exaggeration or outright lie, school accusations and lack of district response combine to drag the community through the mud - again

Shame on you Mr. Whitt. Shame. You claim to be a man of God and yet, your actions over the past couple of days belie a much darker, and less forgiving nature than one would expect from a true Christian.
You are perpetuating a lie, or at best an exaggeration, and you are doing it on the back of a teenage boy. A boy who may not be an angel, but has certainly not done the things you, and other parents are now accusing him of. You and your group have falsely accused this young man of sexual assault, and your exaggerations have led to news organizations across the state to misrepresent what happened using the most heinous terms. In your heart you must know that what has been said is not an accurate representation of what happened.
Nearly everyone who has looked at this incident with an objective eye disagrees with your assessment, including the police who investigated the incident along with the chief of police. The statements of the victims also bear that out. You could have told the truth, like the boy accused of the crime did when asked about it by the police, but you chose not to. Shame on you Mr. Whitt and shame on the parents who are following your lead.
You have given this community another black eye, but you’re not alone in this; you’ve had help from the school board members and administrators whose silence, though required by state law, has helped perpetuate the lie.

Below are the facts of the case, according to Atlantic Police officers Spencer Walton’s and Brent Behnken’s incident report, along with statements given to police by the victims:

Officer Walton describes the incident:

“(victim) stated he was in the boys’ restroom when (the accused) approached him. (The accused) came up behind (the victim) and said ‘have you ever seen a movie like this,’ and jabbed the pencil in (the victims) anal region of the pants/buttocks as well.”

No mention of penetration. Jabbed is the word used, not stabbed and it noted that the victims pants were on, making it difficult, I would think, for insertion to occur.

Here are the statements from the victims themselves; three of the five make no mention at all of penetration.

Victim #2 statement:

“I was leaving Mrs. Sandage’s room going to the health room and then (the accused) came and said there was a movie about something and he grabbed my behind with an open hand and just grabbed my behind. Then I left.”

Victim #4 statement:
Under the description of the incident he wrote, “poking me w/pencil in rear end.”

Victim #5 statement:
“He was poking me in the butt with a colored pencil (non-stop) at least 10 times in the butt each time. It was on the side of the butt.”

Two victims do describe penetration, but the circumstance under which they describe the incident make that claim seem dubious at best.

Victim 1:
“I was in the boys restroom and (the accused) came in and said, asked me if I ever saw a movie like this. Then he shoved a pencil on his fingers up my butt really hard. Then he left (the) restroom.”

Victim 3 stated: (incident occurred in the hallway outside of a classroom)
“He stab(bed) his pencil up my butt.”
He said my name to get my attention, I turned and then the above incident happened.”

So the first victim describes an attack in the bathroom where he was fully clothed. It sounds as if the incident happened quickly and seems unlikely that under those circumstances any anal penetration occurred.
In fact that is exactly what Atlantic Police Chief Steve Green told the News Telegraph last Thursday.

“…there was no true penetration of any body cavity,” he said.
A point Mr. Whitt himself seems to support in the police report where he is quoted as saying:

“I looked at (his son’s) behind in the bathroom and there was a red mark the size of a quarter.”

No mention of penetration, and he describes what sounds like an injury more consistent with being “jabbed” in buttock.

The third victim describes an attack that occurred in a busy hallway outside a classroom; again the circumstances seem unlikely to lead to penetration.

The idea that, as some have claimed, five students were “sexually assaulted,” at the Atlantic Middle School simply does not ring true. The description of some of the injuries, as described by parents, seem improbable at best, and in fact police have refused to file sexual abuse charges, having stated the evidence did not meet the requirements for that crime. The only charges that have been filed are for simple assault.
But as despicable as the distortions seem to be, the real problem is that we, the public, simply don’t know what happened because the administration refuses to tell us. That leaves the allegations on the table and unrefuted.
School officials pointed out on Friday that state law requires that information “about the investigation and any disciplinary action taken as a result of the incident,” remain confidential. Ok, fair enough. But state law doesn’t say you can’t call out a lie.Officials could have stood up and said something along the lines of “What you have just heard is not true. State law forbids me from providing details, but what you have just heard is false.” After reading the police reports I don’t see how you could draw any other conclusion. By not challenging the lie, it’s left to fester, in effect becoming a lie of omission.
The district allowed the message to be controlled by a vocal minority leaving the silent majority with no where to turn for the truth.
If the allegations are true, then the district has the responsibility to explain fully to the public how such a thing could occur, what punishment was handed out and what is being done to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Parents and the public have a right to know what the district is doing to protect the children under its care.
If the allegations are untrue, or exaggerated, then the district has the responsibility to protect the student falsely accused and its own reputation by, again, explaining exactly what happened to the extent it can.
If the district has learned anything from the infamous strip-search incident, it should have been that being open and honest with the public is the best course of action. Unfortunately their actions seem to indicate that lesson remains unlearned.
It is unconscionable that the school board would refuse to discuss the issue with the 40 or so parents who attended a special meeting Wednesday night. The public has right to know the facts, and the school board should be the facilitator, the go-between between the public and the administration, not a stonewall.

As for the parents who are threatening to pull students from the school and making all sorts of unseemly allegations, if these allegations are true, then you have every right to be outraged and demand action. But so far your demands of the school district have been unclear, other than to say you want a tougher punishment handed down. But the basis for making that claim seems to be based on the false claims you are putting forth.
If you are exaggerating the claims, which I believe is the case, and if you are attempting to make a political or social point on the back of a false claim against a teenager, then you should truly be ashamed of yourself.
I believe that this is less about the safety of their children, as some parents have claimed, and more about dollar signs as some are threatening to sue the district. I suspect they will have no trouble finding a lawyer who will take up their dubious cause and the community will be once again dragged through the mud.