Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Two IPS Employees Facing Criminal Misdemeanor Charges For Failure To Report Sexual Abuse

At least six IPS employees, including Supt. Louis Ferebee, learned on February 17 that one of the school's counselors had been accused by a parent of having sex with students, but nobody made a report to the Department of Child Services or law enforcement until a week later on February 23. Now Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry is charging two of those IPS employees with a criminal misdemeanor for not reporting the alleged sexual abuse immediately as required by state law.

The charges against IPS human resources director Lela Hester and human resources case manager Shalon Dabney come after the former school counselor, Shana Taylor, was charged with multiple counts of child exploitation. According to the Indianapolis Star, Dr. Louis Ferebee thanked the prosecutor's office for "its thoroughness and professionalism," obviously quite relieved that he won't be held accountable for the school's failure to report the alleged sexual abuse of students by one of the school district's employees.

The IPS school board has not taken any reported discipline against any of the six employees who knew about the allegations against Taylor but failed to act. The school's principal, Mark Cosand, resigned his position as principal but remains employed by the district. He was out on medical leave at the time of the incident recovering from a stroke but had been alerted about the allegations by the school's assistant principal.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why isn't the Superintendent accountable? -I do NOT believe he wasn't notified immediately.

Anonymous said...


I too demand to know exactly why the gutless Supt. Louis Ferebee is not being held accountable.

The man has to be a national embarrassment to Hoosier education.

leon dixon said...

When did the board members learn of this and when did they do something about it?

Anonymous said...

Hey, sweeping it under the carpet with no paperwork is what I always thought was "standard practice" in education, usually done with student discipline so to make it appear that the dangerous school is safer than it is.

Anonymous said...

I am so outraged by this! ALL individuals involved in this crime should be immediately FIRED. How DARE they decide this crime should not be reported and investigated.

I am furious that such incompetent fools are in charge of our education system. No wonder why people don't want to send their children to IPS - the people who run it are not interested helping the children.

Anonymous said...

Their punishment from the system is suspension with pay. Sounds like vacation time to me.
Is that discipline? Sounds like a reward - full pay without having to work.