Leechburg Area educators investigated on allegations some failed to report suspected abuse
Leechburg police say they're investigating whether Leechburg Area teachers and a principal violated the state's mandated child abuse reporting requirements.
Some of the nine students who gave police statements said they reported that a substitute teacher may have had inappropriate contact with female students months before a concerned teacher called ChildLine, a statewide child abuse hotline, a week ago.
“Every aspect of it is under investigation,” said police Chief Mike Diebold. “We have several teachers and a principal who this was reported to. We'll be following up with what we were told and we'll take it from there.”
Police have not identified or arrested the substitute teacher, but district officials have said he is not currently working in the district.
School employees are “mandated reporters,” meaning they are legally obligated to immediately report suspected child abuse. Failure to do so can result in a misdemeanor criminal charge and could rise to a felony, under new provisions in the Child Protective Services Law, which was updated in 2014.
Police launched an investigation after the hotline call about an instructor who had touched a student and made her feel uncomfortable.
The substitute teacher may have had inappropriate contact with female students over a three-month period between February and May 12, according to Diebold.
The chief said that students who provided written statements to police gave detailed descriptions of the alleged inappropriate contact.
District Solicitor Robert Cinpinski said he's had no indication that district personnel violated the law.
“Indications to me have been that the appropriate actions were taken,” he said.
Not reporting can lead to charges
The crime of “willful” failure to report is a second-degree misdemeanor. Depending on the nature of the abuse and whether a mandated reporter has repeatedly failed to report abuse, the person can be charged with a third-degree felony.
“It depends on a lot of different things, like the kind of abuse the children suffered and what happened as a result of the failure to report,” said Angela Liddle, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, a group that provides training on how to spot child abuse.
State law also requires school employees and independent contractors who have direct contact with children to have at least three hours of training on child abuse every five years.
Violations of the mandated reporter requirements are taken seriously, Liddle said.
“Physicians have been charged, school personnel,” she said. “This is something that people need to take heed to.”
The state Department of Education revoked a Western Pennsylvania teacher's license after she was charged in 2012 for failing to report child abuse after a Charleroi Area School District student told her that a male teacher had touched her inappropriately.
Jeffrey Hahn, a seventh-grade teacher in Bethlehem-Center School District who was working in Charleroi Area on the high school musical, later pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was sentenced to four to eight years in prison.
Jennifer Joyce was a music teacher at the school at the time. The state revoked her license in December 2014, according to state Department of Education records.
Joyce was charged with a third-degree misdemeanor and entered a 12-month program for first-time offenders. She can petition the court to have her record expunged.
Another educator with a teaching license from Pennsylvania received a reprimand in 2015 after failing to promptly report suspected child abuse while working in the Beaver Local School District in East Liverpool, Ohio, state records show.
Chief: Recent incidents should have been handled better
Diebold said the police department hasn't reached any conclusions, but he feels Leechburg Area officials could have handled it better.
“I think the situations of the last few months should have been handled much better,” he said.
Police are investigating allegations of long-running hazing involving the high school boys basketball team that may, on occasion, have risen to sexual assault; officers arrested a student found carrying a loaded handgun in school and charged a man found carrying a knife resembling a gun on school property.
Jodi Weigand is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-226-4702 or jweigand@tribweb.com.
