Accusations of fault fly after schoolgirl's assault

From: South Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL - 19 Feb 2003

By Jamie Malernee
Education Writer

A mentally disabled girl who was sexually assaulted at South Broward High School last week never made it to class because an aide failed to walk her from a bus drop-off point, police said Tuesday.

Instead, the 17-year-old girl, who has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, wandered around campus until about 8:30 a.m., nearly an hour into the school day Friday, when a boy pulled her into a bathroom and assaulted her, said Hollywood Police Lt. Tony Rode.

"The bottom line was she was supposed to be picked up by an aide, and she wasn't," he said. "There are many questions the School Board needs to answer."

Joe Melita, head of special investigations for the school district, declined to comment on Tuesday.

The girl's teacher, Theresa Liquori, says no fault lies with the aide. She says the aide was at work at 6:45 a.m., but the bus was not there.

"My assistant was where she was supposed to be," said Liquori, who also said the incident happened much earlier than police are saying. She added that people should not blame the school.

"The focus should be on the perpetrator," she said.

The suspect, who is not being identified because of his age, has been charged with sexual battery on a mentally deficient victim after forcing her to perform oral sex on him. He is housed at the Juvenile Intervention Facility in Fort Lauderdale. Police say he confessed to the crime, but his foster grandmother says he told her he didn't do it. School surveillance video shows the boy pulling the girl into the bathroom, police say.

School crime statistics show that this is the second sexual battery at South Broward High since the 1999-2000 school year, during which time the school also had three lesser sex offenses.

Districtwide, Broward schools reported 21 sexual batteries and 191 sexual offenses on campuses last school year.

Lina Gioello, a parent activist for students with special needs, said that Broward parents have been concerned by the South Broward assault, particularly because of troubles many have had with aides not watching their disabled children closely enough.

"Schools are notorious for pulling these aides for whatever they want -- cafeteria duty, watching other children. It's a districtwide problem," said Gioello, who has complained when her deaf son's interpreter was pulled from his side to help with other students even though the government pays her to help him alone.

In a recent case of missing supervision, a disabled Westglades Middle student was beaten at school and sent to the hospital with injuries in December despite the fact he was supposed to have an aide watching him at all times. School officials say his mother agreed he did not need to be watched after first period, which was when a group of boys chased him to the school track and the fight began. But the mother and the boy's special-education plan state otherwise.

In January, the School Board also approved a $450,000 settlement with the parents of another disabled boy who was beaten so badly outside a group of portables at Miramar High in 1993 that, according to his parents, he became "psychotic" and unable to function at basic levels.

The parents accused the school of having inadequate security and supervision.

Jamie Malernee can be reached at jmalernee@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4849

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