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HOULTON, Maine – The superintendent of RSU 29 reported to the school board on Monday night about recent incidents of alleged sexual harassment and bullying in the Houlton School District.
Superintendent Joe Fagnant presented recent data on the number of incidents and investigations in the district, the outcomes and what the district is currently doing to address student and parent concerns.
About 30 people attended the school board meeting at Southside School on South Street in Houlton.
Fagnant said that in the current school year, through Sept. 30, there were 14 total reported incidents of bullying and harassment in the district of which nine were substantiated.
There are about 283 students in the middle school and 340 in the high school. The Houlton School District serves the Aroostook County towns of Houlton, Hammond, Littleton and Monticello.
“This is happening everywhere. This is not just RSU 29,” he said. “Talk to any superintendent, talk to any administrator, talk to any teacher, the behavior piece is going to drive many people out of teaching or working in the schools.”
Board Member Mark Lipscombe questioned the district’s reported bullying and sexual harassment numbers.
“Seeing numbers like this and hearing from the community, from students, parents and staff, these numbers seem implausibly low, “ Lipscombe said.
On Sept. 25, 75 Houlton Middle High School students walked out of classes to protest what they call a pervasive culture of sexual harassment, assault and bullying at the school.
The students who organized the walkout said they did it to draw attention to behaviors that make them feel unsafe while in school. While the walkout was fueled in part by the recent release of a cache of photos of mostly girls from the school that was initially posted to a Google photo bank and then shared on social media, students and parents said it is a much larger problem.
During a public comment period at the end of Monday’s meeting parent Becky Zyskowski of Houlton said that the district reported numbers are not accurate. Zyskowski specifically mentioned an online photo posting incident and that many children were victimized.
“One was my daughter and several of them are children who come to my home,” she said.
Students will not come forward and report incidents if they do not feel like they can come forward and not be judged, Zyskowski said.
“I have nerves of steel. I seriously do, but I am shaking right now and I’m trying to think of these 13- and 14-year-old girls who have come to me and said, ‘I have gone to the school. I have gone to certain people and the very first response has been, ‘what did you do to provoke it?’ and that disgusts me,” she said, adding that she will not stop advocating for the children. “Until something is done, it’s not over.”
Fagnant said that recent changes to Title IX law – students no longer need to write out their complaint to administration, it may be verbal – may lead to increased harassment reporting.
On Monday night, Fagnant detailed three recent investigations:
- School officials started a Title IX investigation regarding the Sept. 12 incident of photos posted on social media. On Sept. 30 they concluded that there was a violation of student rights. Under federal Title IX law, schools that receive federal funds are required to investigate claims of discrimination on the basis of sex which includes sexual harassment or sexual violence.
- School officials started another Title IX investigation after a female student said in a Sept. 25 television interview regarding the student walkout that she had been touched inappropriately. The district found there was no harassment due to the admittance of a false report.
- Additionally, Fagnant said there is an ongoing Title IX investigation related to an alleged video edited from television footage of the Houlton student walkout last week.
The students in the Thursday meeting said that students who wish to report incidents are scared to do so and they need an anonymous way to do it, according to Fagnant.
“We know we are doing our best to get on top of this,” Fagnant said, adding that they are going to involve students more. “What happened in September was probably an eye opener for some of our community and it is still something we are dealing with.”
Moving forward, Fagnant said the administration will continue investigating complaints, track all behavior incidents, communicate outcomes of investigation with families in writing, host guest speakers and workshops for students and staff on bullying and harassment and work with the board to review all relevant policies.
Lipscombe asked Fagnant if the district should consider a bullying and harassment policy that details a list of unacceptable behaviors, similar to the Portland School District’s policy, but the board did not discuss or take any action on the matter.
This story was updated to clarify the student complaints were in the current school year that began in August.
