Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / January 2008

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-
md.co.assault12jan12,0,1961856.story

A sixth-grade girl at Perry Hall Middle School lied about being sexually
assaulted this week in a school restroom, Baltimore County police said
yesterday.

Based on their investigation, police concluded that the incident did not
occur, said Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman.

Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said that
prosecutors have reviewed the facts of the case and decided not to
charge the 11-year-old girl.

"The [girl's] family acted extremely appropriately," Shellenberger said,
"and we've decided that the situation is better handled in the family
and not in the criminal justice system."

County schools spokeswoman Kara Calder said yesterday that she did not
know whether the girl would be disciplined by school officials, and
would be prohibited in any event from discussing the issue because of
student privacy concerns.

The girl described her alleged attacker as a construction worker
employed on a renovation project at the school, but police determined
that he had no involvement, Toohey said.

Police said their investigation included interviewing the girl and the
worker and reviewing video from one of the school's 18 surveillance
cameras.

About 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, the girl reported to the principal's office
that a man had followed her into the restroom between classes and
sexually assaulted her, police said. The girl said she fought off the
man, ran out of the restroom and reported the attack to a county police
officer stationed at the school, police said.

Police initially incorrectly said yesterday that the girl had admitted
to lying, but soon after said she hadn't made such a confession. Though
relieved to hear the girl hadn't been harmed, parents said the incident
helped raise awareness about the potential dangers posed by contractors
working in the buildings during the school day.

Some said school officials should consider requiring background checks
and fingerprinting of contractors and their employees, as they do of
teachers and other school workers. They also said construction workers
should be further restricted from areas where children might be.

"I'm glad nothing happened and I feel sorry for everybody involved, but
I still think maybe it was an eye-opener," said Crystal Curtis, whose
son, James, 11, also is in sixth grade. "Everything happens for a
reason. Maybe this is something they want to look into."

Amy Vahle of Perry Hall, whose daughter, Alexis, 11, is in sixth grade,
said construction projects such as the two-year renovation under way at
the school should be limited to weekends, holidays and summer.

"The school system should not allow contract workers or outside sources
during school hours," she said. "Even if a school is a good school, bad
things can happen. Instead of waiting for something to really happen,
they should make some changes."

Calder said she did not know whether the system would begin requiring
background checks of contract workers.

She stressed that while police had concluded that nothing had happened
to the girl, the school had made changes in response to safety concerns.

Children were instructed to travel in pairs, more teachers were in the
hallways between classes and more police were stationed at the school.

Also, construction was curtailed the day after the girl's accusations
were made to give the general contractor, James Ancel Inc., time to
install a separate entrance to the work zone by replacing a window with
a door, Calder said. Any worker who doesn't use that entrance during
school hours will be barred from the project, Principal Allen H. Zink
said earlier this week.

Calder said she believed the entrance was installed Thursday and workers
had returned to the 1,500-student school yesterday.

"In the past 10 years, if not more, we have had a huge scope of
projects," she said. "By and large, we've been very successful at
getting them done in conjunction with operating schools successfully and
safely."

Calder said it isn't always possible to limit construction to off-hours,
weekends and holidays.

"Our primary objective is for the work to happen before school, after
school, during holidays and summer, but given the breadth and scope of
projects, it isn't always possible to do the work at those times and
meet the public's expectations that we improve the physical quality of
the schools," she said.