Principal is Placed on Leave After Sex Abuse of Student Went Unreported
A disturbing news report out of New Haven, Connecticut caught my eye this evening; a story of a principal who has been placed on leave due to failure to report a very serious incident which occurred between some of her students.
On May 31, the sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students from Lincoln-Bassett School attended a field trip to Lighthouse Point Park. On this field trip, a 14-year old girl said she was sexually abused by some eighth-grade boys from her school, but for some reason, Principal Ramona Gatison failed to notify the Central Office about the incident.
In fact, it was over a week later that the Central Office found out what had happened, when they were notified by the Department of Children and Families. So the question to be answered is: did Gatison know about the abuse, and if so, why didn’t she report it to the proper authorities and to this girl’s parents?
Until those questions are answered, Gatison, who has been a principal of this school since 1998, has been placed on administrative leave, and Superintendent of Schools Reginald Mayo is searching for an interim administrator for the school.
At Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, Mayo refused to get into the details of the case, although he did admit that they learned about the incident through the DCF rather than through Gatison.
Mayo told reporters that some parents had been notified about the incident, but that he planned to send out letters this past Tuesday to the rest of the school’s parents.
In a statement, Mayo said, “This alleged incident should have been reported to Central Office and DCF immediately. The district is conducting its own investigation of these serious and disturbing allegations and how they were handled. We will follow the facts wherever they take us.”
The boys who were involved will be suspended and will have to appear at expulsion hearings. Meanwhile, the girl was moved to a different classroom in the school. (Not quite sure how that is supposed to help…)
Okay, let me weigh in for a moment. First, I would like to believe that Principal Gatison was completely unaware of the incident. It is difficult for me to imagine that she would be privy to this terrible news and bury it.
If she was aware of this attack, the only possible reason she could have for failing to report it was to protect her reputation and that of the school as well. If this is the case, it was a terrible decision which not only harms her reputation and the school’s reputation, but harms the girl who was abused and should have been immediately surrounded and cared for by her principal and her family.
Additionally, any cover-up on her part, if there was one, lets those boys go scot-free. That is simply reprehensible, as these boys need to be dealt with and held accountable for their actions.
I will keep an eye on this one and let you know how it all works out. I continue to hope that Principal Gatison was clueless about the whole thing. Better that than the alternative!
How about someone write an article explaining all the positive things Principal Gatison has done for this school and city of New Haven. Also on the fact that she’s been found not at fault and she followed the correct steps. Media and people these days are so quick to point out the negatives without fully learning and understanding all the facts. There’s never any positive things in the news just negative. Shame on you all!!!
David, I welcome your comment. You seem to know Principal Gatison. Are you a parent or a student from her school? I would welcome firsthand information about this woman, so if you can tell us about the positive things she has done for Lincoln-Bassett School, that would be great!
If you reread my blog, you will see that I said two times that I am hopeful that she was unaware of the situation, and that that is why she didn’t report it. I still hope that is true. As a teacher myself, I would always rather side with school employees than against them.
I have been keeping an eye on the news and haven’t seen anything that would indicate that she was found faultless. Is this true? If so, could you tell us about how she was cleared? And is she back to work? The last I read someone else had been hired to fill in for her until a decision was made as to her innocence or guilt.
Thank you again for your comment, and I would truly appreciate anything you can tell us about Principal Gatison.
@David
I know this principal. I taught at her school for a year, she was not supportive, very cold towards me and acted as though signing a bus slip for trips through a grant I received was the biggest pain in her neck. The straw that broke the camels back, she had me sign my “evaluation.” It was a glorious one and even though she had not come into my classroom once to observe me, I signed it. I asked for a copy, she said sure. I never got it. To make matters worse she never sent it downtown. All day long she would gossip with the Mayo’s wife and eat bon bons in the conf. room. The VP did all the work, that is why she left – nobody could take ramona’s crap attitude towards school. I honestly think she cares more about her stupid fake pearls than the kids. so glad im not there anymore!