School failed to stop harassment of 14-year-old who reported a sex assault, complaint says

[Jilly_in_VA]

Classmates called Riley a slut and a whore as she walked through the halls of Andrews Middle School in fall 2021, after she told police and school officials that a high school football player had sexually assaulted her, according to a federal complaint.

False rumors spread that Riley, then 14, an eighth grade cheerleader, was pregnant, and some classmates said she had “come on to” the 16-year-old football player, according to a letter Riley’s lawyer sent last year as part of a federal Title IX complaint against Cherokee County Schools in western North Carolina.

And even more troubling, rumors spread that the football player had recorded an intimate video of Riley, which she feared was circulating among her classmates, her complaint states.

This video may or may not have existed. NBC News has not seen it, nor spoken to anyone who saw it firsthand. The rumors about the video were the subject of official probes, and one middle school student told administrators that he had seen it. Yet the football player denied making a video, and the district later concluded that “the preponderance of the evidence shows a video did not exist,” a conclusion Riley’s lawyer tried to get the district to reverse. Prosecutors filed a charge against the football player related to the video but later dropped it.

Riley and her mother said they expected school staff to curb the harassment and stop the rumored spread of a video. Instead, Riley’s Title IX complaint alleges a cascading series of failures by teachers, coaches, counselors and administrators who ultimately left Riley on her own, forcing her to quit a sport she loved and withdraw from school.

“I felt very broken and defeated,” said Riley, who is being identified by her middle name because of her age. “I felt like my trust was shattered, and very isolated and alone.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sexual-harassment-complaint-cherokee-county-north-carolina-rcna61303

The school's behavior here is absolutely shameful, especially that of the principal. I hope they have to pay BIG.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. At least it wasn't something from Loudoun County -- for a change. NT

[regnaD kciN]

2. How fucking typical...

It seems that, in most suburban school systems, football players are demi-gods and can get away with anything.

[agingdem]

3. When my granddaughter was in middle school

her "boyfriend" broke up with her because she refused to sleep with him.. this boy had a lot of sway with my granddaughter's so-called friends and they went after her with a vengeance..in class, the cafeteria,Facebook, twitter...my daughter demanded the school do something and handed the principal photocopies of the social media exchanges..their response: their hands were tied..and maybe my granddaughter should apologize..my daughter asked for what and to whom..no answer..my granddaughter had to endure weeks of bullying until my husband, a school law attorney, stepped in and notified the school, the school board, and the parents he was ready to take legal action..

not surprised the school's response to bullying was fear and inaction.

[Hekate]

30. Good for your husband

[whathehell]

40. Yours story is interesting..I'm sorry for your granddaughter,

but SO glad the adults in her life wasted no time going on the offense.
Good on your daughter and husband! What did the school do after your husband notified them of his legal plans?

[BlueTsunami2018]

4. Kids are cruel.

They really are. I’m sure everyone has a bullying story from adolescence. Most of the time it just goes by the wayside but when it’s reported like this and people refuse to do anything about it, it’s even worse.

[Jilly_in_VA]

24. Middle schoolers

are, even on their best days, pretty much unreconstructed barbarians. But this article is beyond nauseating and beyond criminal on the part of the school. Hence the Title IX suit.

[Genki Hikari]

31. And teachers and school administrators

Often aid and abet their cruelty.

I had to pull my son from school entirely over bullying and the school not only failing to support him in any way or consider his side of things, but actively terrorizing him on top of it. They were outright bullying him for reasons I'll never understand.

Try having those slimeballs put your son in the "alternate" school for no good reason, and then, when the alternate school called me and said they were recommending he go back to regular classes because he clearly didn't belong there--only to have his main school say no, he needs to stay over there until we say otherwise.

But wait--it gets worse!

You try having cops pounding on YOUR door because the school believed a bully's lies, yet again, that my son had planted a bomb at the school--even though he had been with me all fricking day, trying to sort out the problem his scumbag school caused. And he never got near the place where those school scumbags said that supposed bomb was planted.

Did I mention that when the cops came into my house, ready to string up my kid, they were horrified to see not some crazed terrorist, but a typical 12 year old playing with his Legos on the floor? As soon as they saw that, they immediately chilled out and were downright apologetic about "bothering" us with something so silly after I chewed THEM out for believing the school's hateful LIES.

This is why I get so very angry when people trash home schooling. I could NOT send my son to a school where he was being actively terrorized BY the school, and I couldn't afford private school. Home schooling was all that was left to me, and, ultimately, I'm glad we did it. My son not only received a superior education in every way to anything he had ever gotten at school (or ever would), but also became a better PERSON after not being exposed to the utter filth that is school culture in America. He became calmer, less disrespectful to us, and less gimme gimme gimme materialistic--in just six short weeks of home-schooling.

And I don't want to hear the stupid BS crapola about "socializing." My son became part of a super-close-knit group of friends within a few weeks of leaving school--fantastic people who are still his friends, 20+ years later. When he was a teenager, they were all but living in my house, because they were "socializing" so much.

It's a flagrant lie that kids being home-schooled won't get socialized. A kid who wants friends will always find them, whether among neighbors or from shared interests they have. Know how my son met his lifelong pals? By striking up conversations with other kids at the local video game store and comic book stores.

I should have sued the living daylights out of that disgusting school of monsters for the grief and horror they put us through, but my son couldn't handle dragging it out. He was nearly broken by those evil scumbags, and I told them I was pulling him to prevent THEM from turning my child into either a criminal or a shattered mess.

I don't regret home schooling him. Not for one fricking nanosecond.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

5. I'm not convinced that the school should be held responsible, myself ...

Nothing in the story suggests that the sex did not happen. If it were illegal in state law for the 16 yo to sleep with the 14 yo, and the school knew and didn't report it, then yeah, they should be in trouble. But the story doesn't say that.

The biggest point of legal contention would be the rumored existence of a video, but they claim they investigated that, "and the district later concluded that “the preponderance of the evidence shows a video did not exist,”", nor does NBC conclude that any such video exists/existed. When you get down to it ... why is THAT really the schools responsibility, either? Seems more like it's her parents, and the cops responsibility. Schools are somewhere you go, and they teach you stuff in classrooms. Not to act as the police on things that happen off the school grounds.

I don't really know what people expect a (likely well-underfunded) public school to do about this type of situation. "Slut-Shaming" in High Schools is, very sadly, somewhat of a time-honored tradition, and I doubt there's laws that say the school has to make sure it doesn't happen, and even if it did, from a practical perspective, they lack the resources to effectively do so.

I'm not unsympathetic, hell I remember being in 6th grade and admitting to another boy I thought was my friend that I'd masturbated, and it was spread around and I was teased RELENTLESSLY by the other kids. Nobody was coming to my rescue from the principals office, and I never expected it.

[LisaM]

7. I tend to agree with you.

If parents want the schools to be responsible for this, rather than parents, then they need to pay for the schools to have professional staff whose job it is to police these matters. It's ridiculous to put this on the teachers, along with all the other things they want teachers to be, including armed. As a taxpayer (without kids) I would support slightly higher school taxes to cover something like this.

Teachers are already strained, coping with IEPs, mainstreaming, training for mass shootings, buying their own supplies, being underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated. Now they have to cope with students' sex lives? It's too much. If you want this handled in the schools, hire additional professionals who do this and nothing else.

[rubbersole]

8. [Insert 'school supplied glasses' joke here]

I'm way too classy to go there 🤪.

[Hekate]

9. She told police and school admin that she was sexually assaulted. What does that mean to you?

Does that sound consensual to you?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

44. If you read down to the bottom of the article, it gives some of the 'schools side' in this.

I wouldn't say it's exactly exculpatory, but there is some useful perspective provided there.

This suit is largely about the school not doing it's own investigation in a timely manner.
However, there were very serious criminal charges filed against this rapist (I'll say probably ... even though ultimately charges were dropped) boy, and the school said there's a district policy against the school doing it's own investigation while the police are working on theirs ... they have to wait for 'the results' the cops give them.

Seems like a bad policy but if true, it may at least somewhat explain the inaction on the investigation part.

That comment by the principal, however, if accurately reported in the story ... there's absolutely no f***ing excuse possible for saying something like that. I would've gone down to their office and absolutely lost my shit if that was my daughter.

And if they failed to at least attempt to address the harassment she was reporting, that's also very hard to excuse.

Sorry I was indelicate yesterday, I expressed a lot things very poorly. I really hate bullies, but I also really regret to see public schools (specifically) come off sounding as terrible as (most of) this article makes this one sound. I know how hard teachers work, how crappy the funding and pay is, that sort of thing.

[Hekate]

45. Thanks, Hugh. I think we understand one another.

[wnylib]

11. Schools lack resources to respond to sexual harassment???

The school can ban harassing comments and pictures on the school premises. The first step in curbing the harassing activity would be calling an assembly to discuss appropriate behavior. The victim's name would not need to be mentioned. The school would just outline unacceptable behavior and the consequences. That would include in-person harrassment and name calling as well as bringing up social media content related to the harassment on students' phones while on campus. Punishment for violators can include detention or removal from teams or other extra curricular activities for repeated violations.

The OP says that the girl reported sexual assault. That does not necessarily mean rape. Sexual assault can be inappropriate grabbing, touching, and/or fondling without consent. Does not matter what the ages of the students are. Age only matters in cases of statutory rape where one of the persons involved is under the age of consent while the other person is legally an adult. Even if both persons are under age and one forces himself on the other, that is sexual assault.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

16. What if they were doing those sorts of assemblies though?

I'm not saying they lack the resources to do ANYthing about it, but telling kids not to do something is a lot simpler than actually making them not do ... that thing.

All I'm saying is ... the article in the OP did not entirely convince me the school was dreadfully remiss in their duties in this case. More facts may come out that change my mind on the topic, however.

[wnylib]

21. Of course just telling kids not to do something

is not enough. That's why I said on my post that the school should back up the rules with punishments, like removing violators of the rules from extracurricular activities (band, chorus/choir, cheerleading squad, sports team, etc.)

There is also detention which can be after school or in school detention.

The school has to make it clear that they take sexual assault and sexual harassment seriously. The kids might as well get prepared for the adult world because assault in the work place can get them charges with a sexual offense and cost them their job. Sexual harassment in the work place can also get them fired and possibly sued by their victim.

The school is responsible for making its campus a safe place for students to study, learn, and participate in activities without being harassed, threatened, or assaulted.

[whathehell]

23. Yes..Rules need to be backed up..Schools need to do more

Offenders NEED to be penalized in the various ways you've described.

[whathehell]

13. "Slut shaming is a 'Time Honored Tradition''"?

Perhaps, like Sexual Harassment, the Double Standard" and "She was asking for it" Rape defenses, it should be made HISTORY instead.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

14. I did say 'very sadly' ... but all of us who attended High School ... at ANY point in history

Knows this happens.

I think it totally sucks, but at the same time, I know that school's resources to combat it ... are also pretty friggin' limited. A lot of teenagers are freaking assholes, man. And a lot of their parents aren't much better in that regard.

But the only issue I'm really meaning to address is 'how much the school is culpable here'.

[whathehell]

20. Yes, I've heard this before from men, including

those with daughters, but somehow it remains a "time honored tradition"..Why might that be?

Could it be that these men making token expressions of regret are still more invested, even unconsciously, in Male Prerogative than they are in plain decency or the harm that potentially affects their own kids?

Girls KILL themselves over so called "slut shaming"...Let that sink in a minute..When it does, you might consider that it deserves more attention than a sad shrug and an air of inevitability.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

42. You're right, I was remiss and should've at minimum phrased it much more delicately than I did

For my part I never, ever did anything like that growing up. Even in HS I was lamenting this sort of unfair treatment of girls around the subject of sex, I'd hear guys talk of their conquests and then hear the same guys call girls promiscuous-sounding names. I'd be the one who'd be like ... that's double standard bullshit dude!

I apologize about some of my earlier posts ... when I get down to it I really was mad as hell, esp. about that principal blurb and I guess it made me want to find a way for it to not be as horrible as it sounded, perhaps the reporter just worded it poorly, that sort of thinking. I cannot imagine any adult saying that to a 14 yo girl who's suffering. It's just SOOOO friggin' evil And I chose a poor example of an alternate scenario which understandably drew some ire.

If I'm honest, there's maybe also a little of my own history of being bullied basically all throughout school, and nobody really doing anything about it ... that seeps into my thinking unconsciously. I mean there was some unhelpful sort of advice like 'you have to stand up to bullies' kind of things, but not much beyond that ... at least not unless I showed at the principal bleeding, because another kid punched me in the face on the playground.

Here's one example ... just down the street from my HS was a food truck that was set up after school everyday at a small road-side park (this was in Hong Kong) where some kids would hang out for a bit after classes.

I was a Freshman, and this Junior (and known bully) who was twice my size chased me up a tree in that park and demanded that I take off my underwear and put them in my mouth ... in front of a small crowd of other jeering kids. I told my folks afterwards, in tears, and they called the school. I was never aware of anything coming of it. I believe their take was ... well, it wasn't on campus, so ... not really our business.

Edit: Fortunately was saved from the worst of the situation by a female classmate at the place there that got uncomfortable with where that was going ... I actually did take off my pants and was in a tree in my underwear. She was like "nope, Robert you cannot make him do this, I'll go back to the school and get the principal right now!" and he was all ... "I'M KIDDING, I wasn't gonna make him really do it!" and then he let me down. Wish I could buy her a drink.

[whathehell]

49. Hi Hugh..

Thanks for this very heartfelt post..It does feel good to hear that some young guys like yourself did NOT go along with the ugly, demeaning behavior of their peers, especially at an age when peer pressure can be strong.

I am sorry to hear of your own experience of being bullied. Glad to hear your female classmate saved you from the worst and that the bully - like so many others- -- backed off fast once he was he was confronted.

I do think, as some others here said, that the adults in the equation -- the teachers, the administrator and
the parents. have to give more than "lip service" to their "no bullying" stance...As another poster said, the offenders need to be removed from their sports teams and/or whatever extra-curricular activities they're involved with. There must be a penalty for this, and all forms of bullying, or else nothing will change.

So thanks again, Mr. Lebowski, I really do appreciate your taking the time to write such a kind, sincere post.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

51. No problem and thx for the condolences

Agree 100% on them doing more, what I was really trying to say is the school can't STOP it, they can only discourage it thru means like you say. The story doesn't really make clear whether anything was done along the lines of detentions or loss of athletics/cheerleading/etc for these harassers, so I wasn't quite ready to claim the school were horrible bad guys here as a whole without that piece of info.

The principal him/herself though ... that's another story.

Take care, good chat

[whathehell]

52. You're very welcome

I do understand what you're saying about the school, and maybe when they start taking bullying seriously, things will change for our kids.

Back at ya!

[Jilly_in_VA]

25. Sir....Mr. Lebowski

I consider that rather a nice bit of victim blaming. She reported sexual assault to the police, which doesn't suggest anything remotely consensual. Why should er bully after that be her parents' and cops' responsibility when it was bullying by other students and taking place on school grounds? Could you possibly clean your glasses and get your head on straight here?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

46. You're right, I did not express myself well at all. Apologies Jilly. (nt)

[SYFROYH]

6. the school's principal told Riley that "sometimes the truth hurts,"

God dammit.

[wnylib]

12. Time to make that principal's life miserable.

Publicize his failure as a principle loudly and widely. Get women's organizations to picket the school. Call the principle a sexual assault enabler. If he complains, just remind him that the truth hurts and keep right on picketing.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

15. Okay, that's really f***ing bad, if true, and the context was people calling her ...

words that mean 'promiscuous'.



THAT dude should pay big-time for that, no argument here whatsoever.

Damn, that would be f***ed up as hell.

[whathehell]

22. That fucking principle needs to be FIRED for that..

and the neglect which would obviously accompany his attitude. What a Piece of Shit.
.

[Jilly_in_VA]

26. THIS

So much this.

[whathehell]

28. ...and we wonder why the abuse of girls continues

when adult men with direct responsibility for them openly CONDONE it?

[uponit7771]

50. That's cruel, that's a cruel person and shouldn't be principle

[cab67]

17. "sometimes the truth hurts?"

Here's some painful truth for that principal - you have no business working with minors in any capacity. That you were put in that position is an abomination. Hopefully, either you'll have the good sense to resign or the local board of education will correct the mistake of hiring you in the first place.

Seriously - the principal should have a Title IX grievance filed against them.

[whathehell]

27. Please...Girls "sleeping with older boys", whatever

THEIR intentions, does not denigrate HER character or justify her being abused as a "slut".

[Hugh_Lebowski]

34. "sometimes the truth hurts"

when you don't actually know what that was a response to ... it could be absolutely horrible, it could be fairly innocuous.

Point is, you assume from the verbiage that the context was 'being a slut' ... which would be absolutely despicable ... Whereas I'm taking into account that this info comes from girl>lawyer>reporter, and I'm not entirely sure that's the context.

That was just a random example. There's a lot of other possibilities.

If it's as bad as it reads, it's deplorable as fuck. To be clear.

[whathehell]

36. Sorry, but I think you're really reaching..

I think it's clear the girl was speaking of the verbal abuse she was enduring.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

37. What I'm reaching for is a semblance of faith in humanity

because the way the reporter presents it, it's about the most evil thing I've ever heard, and it makes me f***ing sick if that's an accurate representation of what happened.

For the record.

[whathehell]

38. I understand, but from a woman's point of view, it can

can seem you're just reaching for a way to disbelieve that men can be "that" bad...Trust me -- They can.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

39. I get it and I'm sorry if it came off the opposite of how I meant it

This is just about the worst thing I've ever read, and I'm a 'school' fan in general, and I just don't want this to be truly as bad as it sounds. I'm sickened by it.

[whathehell]

41. Hi Hugh..

I appreciate your apology and your sincerity..It is really sickening, especially when you've been subjected to it, then have to watch while it's perpetrated generation after generation.

I think most men are somewhat "clueless" about the hell women and girls are put through. It's analagous, I'd say, to the sort of "blindness" white people have had in relation to black people.

I could say more, but I'm sooo tired now, I think I'll just stop.. You seem llike a well meaning person, but my point is, this all really needs to be looked at with new and open eyes.

[Jilly_in_VA]

29. Mr. Lebowski, SIR

I have called you once on your victim blaming. Once more and I will report YOU. (This is my thread and I feel justified in so doing.)

[Hugh_Lebowski]

35. I am in no way victim blaming, or didn't mean to at least.

I'm only saying 'after' is ambiguous. We don't actually know the context the principal said that in. We do know that's what the reporter ... via the lawyer (in the filing) ... via the girl (who presumably told the lawyer) seemed to be reporting to us.

That is literally such a horrible thing to say in the context of how it's presented here ... that I'm taking it with a grain of salt because it's so freaking over the top, and it's basically 3rd hand information.

The choice of example was perhaps not the best, and I have no idea of the actual context, it was only a random example of something that would not be nearly as bad. I should've chose a different example in hindsight. I understand your objection.

Don't mean to annoy you

[cab67]

32. There is no context

under which it’s acceptable for a principal to speak like that to a student.

[whathehell]

33. Thank you.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

43. I apologize for my earlier post, I chose a poor example there for sure

All I meant was there are certain contexts where those 4 words might have been said wherein it was more an (probably ill-considered) attempt at 'advice' other than 'absolutely horrify insult that nobody should ever utter to a girl or woman under any scenario'. I just really hope, for this poor girls sake ... the reporter didn't present it accurately.

[cab67]

47. so do I, but

the quote as presented is rather specific, and there don't appear to be any denials by the school district.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

48. Now that this story is out, and that piece is arguably the most inflammatory single data point

showing inexplicable malfeasance, they'll either respond ... or not ... to this particular assertion in the article.

My guess is this principal is toast, and rightly so, if the reporting is even close to accurate.

You can defend bureaucratic nonsense that hampered your school's response, but not this.

[Bev54]

18. WTAF is wrong with people. I cannot believe how many cannot just do the right thing.