Teacher Attacks Student at Game

[movielighter]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: IOWA

My daughter was attacked by her coach at the school, during a volleyball game. I have the whole thing recorded and it is pretty bad. So bad, that after getting at least 100 complaints from parents, and I complained about the physcial and mental abuse, they have yet to contact law enforcement.

I took care of this last night, after 6 weeks of them ignoring me and havnig posession of the footage and not doing anything about it.

The report was taken today and they pulled the county attorney (sister in law of the attacker) and the local police chief (on school board) due to some conflicts. It is now being handled by the Sheriff and the State.

My question is that it has been over 6 weeks, no one from the school reported this incident to law enforcement, does anyone know what is required by law?

This would cover most of the administration at the school who witnessed the event and others who the event was reported to after the event.

My daughter is a current student, 17 years of age, and defined as a minor by Iowa law. The video footage of the event is pretty bad and clearly shows the contact and the event unfold, I even pointed out school employees watching as it happens on the footage.

[cyjeff]

I am assuming this was a physical attack, right?

[aardvarc]

Be prepared for the defense attorney (should it ever get that far) to ask WHY, if 100+ parents were watching, including the mother of the victim who was capturing film of the incident, were the police not called at the moment of the crime or shortly thereafter??????? Waiting 6 weeks before demanding a police report be taken on the incident doesn't bode well for claims that the incident was too serious (I'm not saying it wasn't, only that if police weren't contacted by at least ONE of the MANY persons who witnessed it, you'll have an uphill battle for sure. Heck, people call 911 for stupid things like to ask for directions or to ask where to pay their water bill - a battery on a minor surely should have been one of the "right" times.)

With that said, ANY adult employee of the school who witnessed any sort of physical attack on a student at ANY appreciable level, would generally be a MANDATED reporter, by law, and could face serious legal troubles of their own if they witnessed or knew of the incident and failed in their obligation to report it.

[movielighter]

The attack was physical and involved quite a bit of yelling. The point of contacting the police is taken away from the public\parents once the incident is reported to a public servant, school employee, etc. This is considered (by this state anyway) a point of contact for reporting crimes against children and that's why the law seems to work most of the time.

I cleared myself on this quite a while back, I really did not know much about the law and the definitions of assualt, battery, intimidation, and "tort".

Based on the infromation I had of school board meetings being held and the attacker being seen speaking with the county attorney, I assumed someone must have been looking into it already on the law enforcement side. I filed the report after the school ignored my request to revolve this and meet with me.

My daughter was also still on the team at the time and there was a report filed with the State Board of Education 2 days after the attack (when I reviewed the footage and discovered the physical contact), then another complaint filed on Sept. 23 with the State Board Of Educational Examiners, both agencies are investigating as well. At this point the police report was secondary as the attack on my daugther was already on file.

[movielighter]

Thanks for the help and emails, it seems that there is quite a bit to the video and the action after (and lack of) that needs explaining by the school.

FYI.. If anyone is in a situation like this, the frist thing they will do is try and get the complaint dropped by offering the attacker on a silver platter. I did not take this deal as I am already 2-4 months past that decsion, knowing the outcome based on other "similar" cases.

Someone could say that this is an attempt to hide the fact the administration did not report the attack and instead supported the teacher and ignore complaints by parents and students.

Last week we were given some very good information that parents have complained for years, and that the coach had lost a position due to a similar incident at another school.

I am making it a point to make sure this does not happen again to any child or parent, this is why she ended up supervising my daughter, because someone was talked into not following through with things.

If any of you are in the same situation, do not quit! At least not until there is a public record on file and these people are taken out of the school system are placed under a very strict probation.

Keep the kids SAFE!

[aardvarc]

For the benefit of ANY parent of a child of ANY age attending a school, whether nursery school or Harvard University: do not EVER expect that a report of activity, even criminal activity, to any school official precludes you from contacting police in your jurisdiction to ENSURE that the criminal matter is PROPERLY investigated (even if that police officer happens to be stationed AT the school in question). School officials are NOT criminal investigators, and they certainly have their own "preference" for directions an internal school investigation might take. Always make sure that incidents are reported to a law enforcement officer who has the color of law and power to ARREST. Be aware that schools are NOT known for swift action to ensure justice on behalf of students, at least not until the media gets invovled.

[movielighter]

I agree 110%, it was a hard decission for me to make being in a smaller community. There is no doubt this reporting will bring me a few cold shoulders (already happened) , I also have 3 other children in the same school, we bought our home, and I am emoplyed in town. Once I found out nothing had been reported, and not being familiar with the law, I sent it to others to review to tell me if I was correct in even calling the police in this matter.

The complaint with the State was equally as hard, there are some pretty good people in the school and in thiis town that would step in front of anyone trying to attack a child and even give you the shirt off thier back. The intent has never been to on any reporting that would damage all of the work they have done and let a few rotten apples spoil the bunch. There is no doubt I made the right decission (now that there are questions law enforment wants answered), but things are not going to be easy around here for quite a while.

When this is all over (hopefully soon) I plan to post everything in detail and steps I took (who to call, who to write) etc. Maybe this can help someone else.

Thanks to everyone for the comments, and giving me a place where I can talk about this and get some feedback, it all helps.