The Summit County Attorney’s Office filed misdemeanor charges against the Park City School District on Monday stemming from multiple incidents in which prosecutors say district employees failed in their legal duty to report allegations of sexual abuse involving students to law enforcement.
The Board of Education learned of the charges Monday morning, according to Park City Board of Education President Erin Grady. She said the district is looking into the charges and will respond “in due course” through legal counsel.
According to charging documents, the first incident occurred in October 2019. A parent of a child attending a school within the School District participated in a face-to-face meeting with two district employees, referred to by prosecutors as SDP#1 and SDP#2. The parent told the employees that their child had said SDP#1 had touched him on the genitals.
Immediately after, the employees called a different district staff member — identified as SDP#3 — at the district office and reported the allegation to them, according to the charges. The incident was not reported to law enforcement or to Child Protective Services, while the first two employees did not hear back from the district office regarding the allegation.
Law enforcement learned about the allegation from a medical professional after the parent described it to the medical professional last November, according to the charging documents. The report prompted law enforcement and the Division of Child and Family Services to check on the child at school, and the agencies conducted an interview with the child.
Later that day, the Division of Child and Family Services spoke with Park City School District Superintendent Jill Gildea over the phone. According to the court documents, she said she was aware of the allegation. Gildea told the agency the incident was resolved in 2019 and encouraged investigators to speak to another employee referred to as SDP#5.
The agency expressed concern that the district did not report the allegation to law enforcement or Child Protective Services. Under Utah law, any person, including school employees, who suspects a child may have been abused is required to notify law enforcement.
According to the charging documents, Gildea replied that she did not know whether the allegation was reported to the appropriate agencies. When investigators asked whose responsibility it is to report allegations to law enforcement, Gildea said it was the parents’ responsibility.
Earlier this year, local law enforcement issued an investigative subpoena to the Park City School District and obtained nearly 600 documents. According to the charges, there is no evidence that the district investigated the allegation.
The subpoena also revealed an email sent on Oct. 13, 2021, by a district employee, referred to as SDP#4, to the parent regarding the 2019 allegation. According to the court documents, the email said: “I just wanted to follow up with you about our conversation. My school psychologist colleague brought up that, as mandated reporters, we are obligated to report an abuse is suspected or known of. Since this happened two years ago, I don’t want to stir up things that were resolved already, but I also do not want to ignore potential issues that could still be a concern. I do not want to make any assumptions so please let me know if it is a concern.”
Law enforcement interviewed the employee, SDP#4, in March. The employee said they reported the allegation to SDP#5 in 2021. Neither employee disclosed the suspected abuse to law enforcement or Child Protective Services in 2021, the charges state.
Several employees, including SDP#1, SDP#2 and SDP#4 had cooperated with law enforcement as of this month, but SDP#5 had not returned phone calls from law enforcement, court documents allege.
Authorities also learned of two other incidents in which school officials failed to report allegations of sexual abuse, the charging documents state.
In one of the incidents, a parent told law enforcement this month that their son had previously been raped by a fellow student. According to the court documents, the parent learned of the allegation from a district employee, identified as SDP#6. The employee did not report the allegation to law enforcement or Child Protective Services.
Further investigation revealed that another School District employee, SDP#7, had learned in December 2021 of a separate allegation involving a female student who claimed she had been raped by another student. According to the charges, SDP#7 interviewed the female student, and later “held a mediation” regarding the allegation. The employee did not report the allegation to law enforcement or Child Protective Services, however.
The Attorney’s Office filed the charges against the district Monday in Summit County Justice Court. The district faces three class B misdemeanor counts of failure to report.
The Park City Police Department, Summit County Sheriff’s Office and the Summit County Attorney’s Office continue to investigate the case.
Grady, the Board of Education president, offered a prepared statement in response to a Park Record inquiry.
“We take these allegations seriously and as always prioritize the safety of our students so that they can reach their academic and social potential,” she said. “We ask that the public is respectful of the district administration and allows this process to play out before assuming any negligence or bad intent. The board fully supports the Superintendent, her administration and all our staff as they continue to provide a safe learning environment for all our students.”
The district office on Monday declined to comment on the charges.
In a prepared statement, the Attorney’s Office advised parents and the public to be aware that if they disclosed allegations of child abuse or neglect to the Park City School District, the allegations may not have been reported to the proper authorities or investigated.