BOE Revamps Child Abuse Policy

Every Norwalk Public School employee will soon be responsible for reporting suspected cases of child abuse to school administration.  Currently, only certain staff members such as teachers and principals have the authority to report cases of abuse. This Tuesday, however, the Board of Education is set to vote on a revised and more extensive child abuse policy.


“By making everyone a reporter, we give children the protection they deserve,” says Steve Colarossi, policy committee chairman. “The previous policy was short on details. We needed more specificity.”

Nine months in the making, the revamped nine-page policy is in response to two arrests made last year. In May, John Tate, an art teacher at Brien McMahon High School, was arrested on charges of having sex with a 17-year-old student. In the second case, Dina McNelis, a substitute teacher at Briggs, was arrested and charged with having "inappropriate" contact with middle school children.

After the arrests, parents and school officials questioned whether the school district had adequate policies to address abuse by school staff and whether they were appropriately followed. In response to community concerns, the policy committee of the Board of Education began a review of its child abuse policy at the end of last school year.

Just as the committee began its work, the state issued its own report on the subject. Then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Jeanne Milstein, the state’s child advocate, released a report in July that examined child abuse cases in public schools across the state. It found that the state Department of Education, Department of Children and Families and school districts have all failed to adequately safeguard children. In particular, the report found fault with the rules regarding when school personnel must report abuse. “The attorney general’s report absolutely mirrored what we were working on,” says Colarossi, an attorney who was once a child abuse investigator.

“The committee saw the need for every member of the staff to become a ‘mandated reporter,'” Colarossi says of the biggest change in the revised policy. “Some children have a special relationship with someone on the secretarial staff or a custodian. That person should also be able to report abuse to their building administrator and understand the chain of command.”

The new policy also states that the superintendent should be notified “immediately” after the administrator. “Under the old policy, the superintendent would sometimes not know of the report until after the DCF investigation had started,” says Colarossi.

If the suspected abuser is a school employee, the updated policy also contains a provision that gives the superintendent authority to put the employee on “immediate administrative leave,” pending a DCF and police investigation. Colarossi says it was “critical to give the superintendent the authority to undergo her own investigation of the case.”

The committee invited student advocates from Brien McMahon’s Center for Youth Leadership to participate in policy-making discussions. Based on the student comments, the policy now states that schools cannot “discriminate or retaliate” against a student or employee who “in good faith” makes a report against another school employee. “The kids felt like they were listened to and heard,” says Bob Kocienda, director of the youth center.

Districtwide training on the new policy is needed, says Colarossi. All employees will receive copies. Colarossi doesn’t expect much associated cost with training. “We made the policy like a step-by-step instruction manual.”