Six Days To Report Child Sex Abuse: Where's The Media Outrage?

IPS Supt. Dr. Louis Ferebee

IPS officials waited six days after they received evidence that one of its counselors had exchanged explicit images and sexual messages with a student to make a report to the Department of Child Services, a clear violation of a state law requiring school officials to immediately report instances of suspected child sex abuse to child welfare services or law enforcement. Shana Taylor, a counselor at the Phoenix Academy at Longfellow Elementary School, now faces criminal charges for having sex with students in her school office.

Unlike the recent case at the prestigious Park Tudor private school where school officials waited a full day to make a vague, misleading report to the Department of Child Services, media outrage has been noticeably absent except for a WTHR-TV report last night. Does the media look at such matters through a different lens when the victims attend a school for the rich than when the abuse occurs at an inner city school heavily populated with the poor and minorities? Why aren't tough questions being asked of Dr. Louis Ferebee and school board members who just awarded him a gigantic pay raise last week knowing full well his administration had failed to act in conformance with state law in reporting suspected child abuse in this instance? Is law enforcement considering charges against those school officials who ignored state law and provided ample opportunity for Taylor to destroy evidence of her sexual relationships with students? IPS parents and the public deserve the laser-like coverage our local media gave to the transgressions of Park Tudor officials.

UPDATE: Here's a statement released by the Marion Co. Prosecutor's Office today:

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry announced today that charges have been filed against a school employee accused of engaging in sexual conduct with two juvenile students. Shana Taylor, 37, is alleged to have committed the offenses involving two 16-year-old male students while she was employed as a high school guidance counselor at Longfellow Alternative School in Indianapolis. Taylor is charged with eight counts of Child Seduction (Level 5 Felonies), one count of Child Seduction (Level 6 Felony), Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor (Class A Misdemeanor) and Dissemination of Matter Harmful to Minors (Level 6 Felony).

An investigation into the matter was opened by the IMPD Sex Crimes Unit upon receipt of a report from the Indiana Department of Child Services on February 23.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, Taylor is alleged to have engaged in sexual conduct with one student in multiple locations, including the school, between October 2015 and February 2016. The encounters began when the student was 16 years of age and continued while he was age 17. Eight of the counts charged today relate to alleged conduct with this student.

Taylor is also accused of having a sexual encounter with a second student while that student was 16 years of age. Two of the Child Seduction counts charged today relate to alleged conduct with this student.

As further alleged in the probable cause affidavit, the mother of one victim came to the school and disclosed that she had viewed numerous text and Facebook messages between her son and Taylor. The mother provided the school with the messages and inappropriate photos of Taylor which were sent to the woman's son.

Taylor was arrested in Elletsville on February 25. An initial hearing is scheduled for today at 1:00 p.m. in Criminal Court 6.