Clay Carr
Clay Carr, an attorney representing Sparkman Middle School administrators in a case stemming from a 2010 rape in a bathroom at the school, speaks to parents at Madison County Elementary School on Monday. The elementary school's principal, Jeanne Dunaway, is a defendant in the case. (Crystal Bonvillian/cbonvillian@al.com)
GURLEY, Alabama -- Parents of Madison County Elementary School students said they were not satisfied Monday night with the school district's explanation of a 2010 rape in a Sparkman Middle School bathroom.
The two schools are more than 25 miles away from one another, on nearly opposite sides of the school district, but they have one thing in common – Jeanne Dunaway. Dunaway, the principal of Madison County Elementary, was an assistant principal at Sparkman Middle in January 2010, when a teacher's aide used a 14-year-old special needs student as "bait" to "catch in the act" an older boy with a history of sexually harassing female students.
When no adult followed the teens into a bathroom in time, the girl was sodomized.
Clay Carr, a lawyer representing Dunaway, as well as Sparkman Middle principal Ronnie Blair and assistant principal Teresa Terrell, in the lawsuit filed by the girl's father, attended a community engagement meeting Monday at Madison County Elementary to address the court case and answer questions from parents.
Carr disputed what he and school board vice-president Mary Louise Stowe, who also spoke briefly to the audience of about 40 parents, characterized as "misinformation" reported in the media.
"There are two sides to every lawsuit and most of what you have heard and read about this has presented only one side," Carr said. "Most of what has been printed and aired on the news is strictly coming from the plaintiff's allegations in the case."
He said that U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam found that "the actual facts of the case, from the evidence, showed that the school board did the appropriate things it was required to do under the law and that the administrators did what they were required to do under the law."
"What's the misinformation?" asked Andy Watson, who was there with his wife, Miranda. The Watsons have two children at Madison County Elementary.
"Part of the misinformation is that the student was unsupervised," Carr said. "He was not. He was supervised at all times."
Madison County Elementary principal Jeanne Dunaway updates parents on student achievement Monday at the school. (Crystal Bonvillian/cbonvillian@al.com)
The boy, who, according to Blair's deposition in the case, was in in-school suspension due to an unproven incident of consensual sex the previous week, was allowed to do janitorial duties around the school on the day of the rape.
"So, he got into the restroom supervised?" Watson asked. "With a 14-year-old special needs student?"
"Well, supervised doesn't mean that there's a teacher standing with him at all times," Carr said. "I mean, look at the number of students there are in a school and the number of teachers there are to supervise them."
"He was high-risk," Miranda Watson said, pointing to the boy's long history of sexually inappropriate behavior on campus and on the school bus.
"That's some more of the misinformation," Carr said. "What Judge Putnam found was that the prior incidents that were in this student's disciplinary record were not sufficient to put the board or the administrators on notice of any risk of something like this happening."
The group of parents questioned the fact that Simpson was placed on leave, and subsequently was out of her job, but the administrators in the case kept their jobs and, in the case of Dunaway, were later promoted.
Miranda Watson pointed out that, when asked in her deposition if the victim was responsible for the injuries she sustained in the sexual assault, Dunaway stated that she believed the girl "took responsibility for herself when she went into that bathroom."
Dunaway also stated in her deposition that the girl was "of age to know that it's not appropriate for a young lady to go into a boys' bathroom."
"I just find it very questionable and disturbing that my two children are now in that situation of...supervision," Miranda Watson said. "Will that same kind of judgment be made with my children?"
Carr again cited "misinformation," saying that Simpson was the only person aware of the plan to send the girl into the bathroom with the boy.
"None of the administrators, including Ms. Dunaway, were aware of it," he said.
Andy Watson pointed out that Simpson has claimed in court documents that she informed Dunaway of her plan beforehand but that the assistant principal was "disinterested" and did not offer advice or stop it from happening.
"That's her allegation. It didn't happen," Carr said.
Carr said Dunaway was on the telephone when Simpson came to her office and that she did not hear what the teacher's aide planned to do.
"I work in a hospital, sir, and I'm on the phone all day long, and the computer, and I hear everything that goes on around me," said Tracie Henry, another parent.
Putnam's opinion in issuing his ruling shows that he, too, had doubt about Dunaway's claim that she did not know about the plan beforehand.
Putnam's opinion shows, however, that he did not necessarily believe Dunaway's claim that she did not hear Simpson tell her about the plan.
"Plaintiff's evidence here suggests that after Simpson and Dunaway persuaded (the victim) to meet with (the suspect) by promising that teachers would 'catch' them before anything happened, they essentially abandoned her. Simpson returned to the gym, and there is no evidence that Dunaway did anything but sit in her office," Putnam writes in the opinion. "They negligently or wantonly failed to protect (the victim) from harm by persuading her to meet with (the suspect) and then making little or no effort to protect her while she did so.
The group of parents continued to question how Dunaway was promoted. The lawyer said the 2010 incident was thoroughly investigated immediately, by both the school district and law enforcement.
"I'm sure Ms. Dunaway received her job here because she was the best candidate and she was recommended by the superintendent and approved by the board," he said.
After the meeting, Henry said she was not satisfied with the answers parents were provided.
"He just repeated himself over and over," Henry said of Carr. "What did the media get wrong? That's what we wanted to know. He was in too much of a hurry to get out from in front of that microphone."
The Watsons said they, too, were not happy.
"We didn't get any real answers," Andy Watson said.
The board, Blair, Terrell, Dunaway and Simpson last year were awarded summary judgment on the federal claims in the lawsuit, but Dunaway and Simpson still face state claims of negligence and wantonness. Both sides have appealed Putnam's judgement.