Abuse reporting law creates confusion in schools

To report child abuse, call DFCS at 1-855-GACHILD (422-4453).

A law Georgia legislators passed to protect children has created confusion and other problems for school officials.

The law seems simple: Anyone who comes into contact with children is required to report allegations of abuse to police or the Division of Family and Children Services within 24 hours. Failure to do so could result in a misdemeanor arrest, a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

But some school systems have experienced hitches in putting the "Mandated Reporter Law" into action.

In Cobb County, the difficulties have been much more severe, with 22 employees — seven times more than any other metro Atlanta district — being disciplined for not reporting allegations in a timely manner. At least eight have lost their jobs, and some wound up in the justice system.

The difficulties can be traced to conflicting messages from central office staff and “severe” enforcement of a law that assumes school officials are guilty until proven innocent, said John Adams, the executive director of Educators First, a local teacher’s advocacy group. Some educators have also described difficulty in distinguishing legitimate accusations from gossip uttered at school or through social media.

“(Employees) have been so concerned with the policy that they’ve spent more time covering themselves than doing their jobs,” Adams said. “They’ve almost been paralyzed.”

Other school districts have described problems in implementing the 2009 law, which was expanded this year — following the scandal at Penn State University involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky — to include volunteers.

For example, in Gwinnett County, “we can’t logistically gather all 20,000-plus employees to remind them and inform them of this policy,” said Jorge Quintana, a spokesman for the school system, the state’s largest.

John Waller, a spokesman for Clayton County Schools, said his system’s “biggest challenge is making employees understand that what happens in a child’s life between the time they leave us in the afternoon and the time they arrive back at school in the morning is still our business.”

Cobb’s difficulties have been of a higher profile, though.

Shortly after officials dismissed cases against two popular principals, Mary Finlayson, the district’s top investigator, was given 27 minutes to leave the building after being told her job was eliminated due to budget cuts. Another investigator, John Morrissey, has since turned in his resignation letter.

Administrators stopped short of tying the elimination of Finlayson’s position and Morrissey’s resignation to recent complaints about the policy.

But the district has changed the language of its policy twice in the past year, and the superintendent and board chairman say they are now re-evaluating their approach to the law.

“We take the concerns very seriously and have spent the last several weeks looking at changes that need to be made,” Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and Board Chairman Randy Scamihorn said in a joint statement. “Our senior leadership and human resources staff have committed to learn from past decisions.”

More than 17,000 reports of alleged child abuse were made by school officials across the state last year — 3,500 more reports than before the law was expanded. Cobb doesn’t keep track of its reports.

Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, who wrote the original legislation, said she hasn't heard districts are having problems complying with the law, which, she said, has helped protect Georgia's children.

Cobb offers an hourlong training program that details what child abuse is, how to detect it and the employees’ responsibilities. Employees are required to report allegations of abuse to the principal or the principal’s designee.

But administrators and teacher advocates say that, despite the training, there is still confusion about who is ultimately responsible for reporting allegations and whether district officials should investigate on their own before they make a report. Some express concerns about rumors being passed among classmates or through social media.

“The training is inconsistent with the policy as it was being interpreted and enforced,” Awtrey Middle School principal Jeff Crawford said.

Earlier this year, Finlayson’s office attempted to suspend Crawford for insubordination and failing to properly report a student’s rape accusation. The accusation involved a teenager the same age as the female student. The school was not the site of the alleged incident.

Crawford’s lawyer said the rape allegation was never made to school officials and Crawford was barely involved.

Administrators later dropped that case.

Last year, Trudie Donovan, then principal at Kell High School, was charged with a misdemeanor after she was accused of failing to report the abuse of a student by a teacher in a timely manner. She retired shortly after the incident. A counselor involved in the incident resigned but was not charged criminally.

“I did not think that I should be reporting to anyone other than HR because it was an employee,” Donovan said in letter to the district. “I in no way was deliberately trying to not do my job.”

A judge later dismissed the criminal charge against Donovan.

Last year, Tapp Middle School principal Jerry Dority and counselor Yatta Collins were fired after waiting two days to report to DFCS a student’s accusation that her stepfather sexually abused her.

Finlayson, who spent nine years working for the Crimes Against Children Unit of the Cobb County Police Department before coming to the district, said her investigations were thorough and fair. The dismissal of several principals were decisions made by higher-ups, not her, she said.

“It seems that every organization looks for a fall guy to take the heat when political criticisms arise,” she wrote in a May 12 letter to the school board. “And it appears I am the fall guy.”