Victim advocates working with Squalicum High students after walk out over assaults

Bellingham Public Schools officials are meeting with students and bringing in local victim advocacy organizations to Squalicum High School this week after several hundred students walked out in protest Monday, Dec. 12, and accused the district of silencing sexual assault victims and mishandling addressing the criminal citations of three administrators who were charged with failing to report a student’s sexual assaults.

Maude Chimere Hackney, Jeremy G. Louzao and Meghan V. Dunham were each issued criminal citations Wednesday, Dec. 7, for failure to report, a gross misdemeanor. Hackney is an assistant principal at Bellingham High School, while Louzao and Dunham are assistant principals at Squalicum.

All three are mandatory reporters and are required by state law to report any suspected abuse or neglect of a child to law enforcement or the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families. They were each given a mandatory date to appear in court, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.

None of the three administrators have been placed on paid administrative leave. They continue to work in their normal capacities and have the district’s support in doing so, according to a Friday statement from Bellingham Public Schools Superintendent Greg Baker.

Three to five additional staff and administrators, including mental health staff and a student safety specialist, will be at Squalicum High School to offer support this week, Principal Miguel Perez announced in a Monday afternoon statement.

School officials will continue to meet with students, including the protest organizers, to hear their suggestions on possible action steps, and will bring in local victim advocacy agencies, such as Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services of Whatcom County, to provide support and services for students who need them. Officials will also meet with victim advocacy representatives and law enforcement to improve training for all school district staff, Perez’s statement said.

“We share students’ concerns and the need for all students to feel safe at school and in the community, and we are proud of them when they advocate for what is important to them, even if it is difficult to hear,” Perez’s statement said. “Student voice is very important, and students expressed serious concerns today. We will continue to work with our students to listen to their concerns, support them and connect them with law enforcement and other organizations when appropriate.”

Hearing them

Multiple students who spoke to the crowd Monday morning said school officials made them feel invalidated when they tried to report their sexual assaults and harassment, and accused administrators of not taking the issue seriously.

In mid-January, a 15-year-old female student reported to Louzao that a 14-year-old male student at Squalicum sexually assaulted her on school grounds in November and December 2021. Louzao, who was dean of students at the time, told the female student a safety agreement would be put in place.

Four days later, the male student violated the safety agreement, and when the female student reported the violation to Dunham, who was also dean of students at the time, it was discovered the agreement had not been put in place, The Herald previously reported.

The student reported the assaults to the Bellingham Police Department in early February. The following day, Hackney facilitated a meeting between the victim and the accused male student to discuss the reported sexual assault incidents, Bellingham police said in a previous statement.

The male student was later arrested and charged in Whatcom County Juvenile Court with one count of indecent liberties by forcible compulsion, a felony, according to court records. His case is currently pending, with a trial confirmation hearing scheduled for Jan. 3, 2023. The county’s juvenile court is part of the Whatcom County Superior Court.

At no time did Louzao, Dunham or Hackney report the sexual assaults to law enforcement or the state department of children and family services, Bellingham police said.

Jasmine Olivas, a 17-year-old Squalicum senior and one of the walk-out organizers, said when she spoke with the victim, the student told Olivas the district had failed her. Olivas, who shared statements the victim wanted known with the crowd, said the victim was forced into a meeting with the accused student and was almost left alone with the male student, but ultimately wasn’t because she became upset.

In response to The Herald’s questions regarding why the district never reported the sexual assaults, what the purpose of the meeting Hackney facilitated was, whether the victim was aware of the meeting prior to Hackney scheduling it or whether meetings of this nature were standard protocol for the district, a district spokesperson said they were “not able to share additional information due to federal educational privacy law.”

Ethan Odegaard, 16, said schools are supposed to be safe places where students can share their stories and opinions, but accused Perez, the principal, of fostering a culture in which students’ “very adult, very real issues,” are dismissed. Students who report issues of sexual assault, harassment, bullying and racism are ignored because it’s politically convenient for school officials, Odegaard, who is a junior, said.

“So now I ask Miguel Perez, Jeremy Louzao, Meghan Dunham, Chimere Hackney, Greg Baker, where were you when your students needed you most? Where are you now? Collectively as a student body, we’re here to say we’re angry, tired and scared,” Odegaard said to the crowd. “In this moment, will you stand, acknowledge our frustrations and work with us to keep ourselves safe, or will you continue to invalidate us and create an environment of hostility?”

Change and accountability

The students said they were demanding change, transparency and accountability from school administrators.

Senior and walk-out organizer Annika Skelton, 17, said school leaders needed to stop normalizing sexual assaults reported by students and to instead take action and be sure students’ voices are heard. She said students need a way to know that mandatory reports that are legally required to be made are in fact being made, and said the students would welcome transparency surrounding what administrators had done to address the reports.

Skelton and several other students who spoke said safety agreements and no-contact orders put in place between students have not been followed. A handful of students who shared personal experiences with the crowd said they’ve had to continue attending classes with their abusers after reporting assaults or harassment.

Another student said this is not a new issue at the high school, recalling a May walk-out held over the same issues. The student, who said they’ve attended Squalicum for a year, said an email was sent out Friday stating that school officials were supporting the three administrators who’ve been criminally cited.

“Why aren’t you supporting the victims?,” the student said.

Others also said they needed more personable administrators that support victims, which prompted at least one person to shout “We trusted you and you failed.”

One student asked those in attendance to raise their hand if they or someone they know had been sexually assaulted. Nearly every hand in the crowd went up.

Later, when those in the crowd were asked whether they had ever contemplated suicide, more than two dozen students raised their hands, and around half kept them up when asked whether school officials could have done something to help or to stop or prevent those thoughts.

Several dozen students brought signs which had slogans that read “I don’t want to graduate with rapists,” “Hold them accountable,” “We want admins we can trust,” “For teachers, you should know what mandatory means” and “You care more about kids vaping than raping,” among other statements calling for change and accountability.