School Rape Investigation

DC Police and City school officials need to conduct a thorough investigation into what happened at Melvin Sharpe school on Friday, January 12^th so that names and reputations can be restored if need be and if people need to be arrested and/or fired..so be it. If you missed the story on Nine News Now on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, here’s a summary.

A 15 year old Special Education student says she was beaten and raped inside a school bathroom after being sent there by her teacher to change from a skirt to pants after the student had participated in the school’s Martin Luther King program. The girl whose name and face we never used in our TV report says a male student entered the bathroom and began slapping her before throwing her to the floor where he proceeded to rape her. Two other male students, according to the girl, heard her screams and came to her rescue, pulling the attacker off.  The female student says the teacher arrived on the scene and said “you’re always getting into something”. An assistant principal also weighed in according to the girl saying “she’s okay, go back to class”. The student’s mother told us on camera that she arrived home to find her child crying on the front steps to their southeast apartment building and upon hearing the account of what happened immediately called police. Tired of waiting she took her daughter to Children’s hospital. The mother produced a record from her daughter’s examination. It said that a sexual assault had occurred. A DC police detective arrived at the hospital and began an investigation. A DC school spokesman confirmed that no one at Melvin Sharpe school called police, the girl’s family, or for medical assistance. One school source explained that the assistant principal never heard the word “rape” used when students were describing the initial bathroom incident. And yet another source who didn’t want to be identified suggested that the sexual assault may have occurred elsewhere. A police investigation should sort out fact from fiction. What isn’t in dispute is that a 15 year old girl with multiple mental and physical disabilities has been violated and harmed in a criminal matter that could haunt her for the rest of her life.

The 15 year old suspect has been transferred to another school pending the outcome of the probe. He’s also a special education student. The girl’s mother says her daughter won’t be returning to Sharpe either. In a school designed especially for “special needs students”; where the ages range from pre school to twenty two, where was the supervision for both the victim and the accused? The Washington Teacher’s Union says The Sharp School has seen 20 staff positions cut this year alone. That’s eight teachers and a number of teacher aids gone. Where was the teacher or aid when the female student first entered the bathroom? This investigation can’t end soon enough! We’ll keep you posted.