Father, District 204 still at odds over handling of alleged assault

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials say they're sympathetic to the family of an 11-year-old boy who says he was sexually assaulted last fall by two male classmates in one of their homes.

But school leaders insist their hands are tied by the law and the slow nature of the justice system.

Two boys from Naperville, a 12-year-old and an 11-year-old, are charged with felony counts of criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault as well as a misdemeanor count of battery against their 11-year-old schoolmate.

In recent days, school board members have heard from the victim's family and other parents urging them to remove the accused attackers from Gregory Middle School. But district officials and lawyers say it's not that easy.

The victim's father, however, says he will not give up his fight until the alleged attackers are out of his son's school.

"The question is 'has there been bullying in the school building or in connection with school activities?'" District 204 attorney Jack Canna said Wednesday. "When we talk about incidents occurring in the privacy of someone's home, there are constraints on the ability of a district to impose discipline. We are not uber police for the community."

The victim's father recently commended Gregory staff for its "initial supportive and sympathetic response." But he says he blames Superintendent Stephen Daeschner for "not taking decisive action" regardless of the school board's interpretation of the law.

He also said the district is not in legal compliance because it doesn't have an anti-bullying policy on file.

"The district needs to remove kids from the school when they assault their classmates," the victim's father said Wednesday. "Keeping them there does not does not promote a safe environment for anyone involved."

Daeschner said Gregory is safe and measures have been taken to keep the three students separated while at school, a difficult task considering their lockers share a common hallway.

The victim's father said the task is impossible.

"If they are in the same school, they do interact," he said. "Unless (the accused students) are brought in under burlap sacks and don't participate in any group activities, I don't believe that."

Ultimately, though, Daeschner said the district has followed its policy regarding aggressive behavior that requires documentation of repetitive or aggressive behavior by students, followed by a series of interventions.

"We have policies on how to deal with these scenarios as they relate to things that happen at school and how we react to something taking place off site and we're following that very closely," Daeschner said. "But the public is asking for something that is not in the policy, so we have to listen to (Canna) to understand any legal ramifications of our actions."

At Monday's meeting, board member Curt Bradshaw proposed a victim's rights policy that would require any student who has been charged, convicted, or pleaded guilty to a violent felony against another student to be reassigned to another school within the district or placed in an alternative education program for a period of three years.

Canna said district staff has been gathering policies from other districts to see if there are other legal options available. Bradshaw's proposal also will be studied to determine if it meets the district's legal liability.

School board President Mark Metzger said the board has scheduled a meeting for Feb. 23 to compare the district's policy with others.

"I'm expecting an examination of whether our policy is or is not deficient," Metzger said. "We'll learn what, if anything, we can do within the law to address situations that may take place outside of the school."

The victim's father said he plans to attend that meeting.

"Every day, more and more people in the district are hearing about the heinous things that happened to my son," he said, "And they all want the same answers."