Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston
One sentence in the just-released investigation of the December 2015 rape of an Ooltewah High School freshman gets at the crux of the problem.
In the middle of page 9 of the 23-page report by the office of Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is this:
"It is our belief that had the main victim not suffered injuries, the incidents would never have been reported to the School Board or revealed to the public."
In that sentence is an indictment not only of the personnel on the trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn., where the incident occurred, but of the top administrators then at the school and those at the Hamilton County Department of Education.
With that in mind, administrators at every Hamilton County school, public and private, should read the report. (Note: It is in the document attached to this editorial.)
They should read it, take a serious look in the mirror and ask themselves if it is possible something like the incidents detailed in the report are happening at their school. Because they just might be.
The fact that many of the individuals cited in the report are no longer in the positions they were when the abusive, bullying and illegal incidents occurred is no reason to believe such behavior does not exist in local schools. The fact Hamilton County Board of Education members and Hamilton County Schools central office employees say some of the issues have been addressed, changes have been made and new approaches have been implemented does not mean the problems will go away.
An investigation by a private attorney commissioned by the school board released last month and the district attorney/Sheriff's Office report that was released Thursday both cite a culture of problems at Ooltewah High School. Both cite deficiencies in training, lack of transparency and an absence of responsibility as aggravating circumstances.
However, the new report offers a more thorough indictment of former Ooltewah basketball coach Andre "Tank" Montgomery and former Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Rick Smith than has been made before.
- Montgomery, who still faces charges over the incident in which a basketball player was raped by a pool cue wielded by another player, went forward with the trip for his basketball team to Gatlinburg even though the trip hadn't been approved by the school board. He apparently then drove some of the players in his personal vehicle to Gatlinburg even though no required transportation plan for the trip had been submitted to the school board.
- The former coach and his wife left members of the team alone in the cabin where they all were staying for an extended period of time, and during that time some of the abuse began. Even when he and other coaches were told of several incidents, they did not provide additional supervision.
- The coach's wife, whether intentionally or unintentionally, threw out the victim's clothing and apparently cleaned the area where the attack took place, essentially compromising the crime scene.
- Most egregiously, the coach told his players to remain quiet about the incident - to not even discuss it with their parents. And neither he nor other coaches on the trip followed mandatory reporting requirements concerning the incident.
- Neither Smith nor his staff, despite being told of the incident, told the team to return home immediately.
- Smith greatly minimized the serious nature of the incident to school board members, and neither he nor his staff would provide information to only public inquiries about the incident.
- Smith "failed to make a sincere effort" to contact parents of victims or other players.
- Smith, after the incident was revealed, "failed to offer the public any meaningful assurance" the incident would be aggressively addressed or that student safety would be prioritized, inaction that in turn damaged the reputation of the Hamilton County Department of Education.
Like the school board inquiry by a private attorney and a Times Free Press investigation late last winter, the district attorney/Sheriff's Office report made clear bullying and harassment incidents are not isolated to Ooltewah but take place elsewhere in the district.
But the latest report zeroed in on the lack of system accountability: no public reporting of safety issues, no tracking of complaints for bullying, limited ability to report bullying, parent complaints ignored and a lack of adequately addressing truancy.
While the Hamilton County school district has other fish to fry in raising test scores and, in the words of Chief Academic Officer Jill Levine, getting every student to feel excited about learning, it must prioritize safety. Without that, parents won't be too interested in buying into the innovative and interesting things the school system is doing.
We believe the administration and the school board when they say they are addressing the problems, but they must be sure they're not putting Band-Aids on gaping wounds. The word "culture" was used in investigations by both the private attorney and the district attorney/Sheriff's Office. A culture cannot be ended with a few words on bullying here, a training on hazing there. It must be rooted out. We trust that's where the district is heading.