Bellingham administrators accused of failing to report student’s assaults reinstated
This story has been updated
Three Bellingham Public Schools administrators who are facing criminal charges for allegedly failing to report a student’s sexual assaults brought to their attention have been reinstated as assistant high school principals.
Jeremy Gilbert Louzao, Meghan V. Dunham and Maude Chimere Hackney were each criminally cited Dec. 7 in Whatcom County District Court with one count of failure to report, which is a gross misdemeanor. Gross misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
All three have pleaded not guilty in the case. Their jury trial is expected to start Aug. 28.
All three administrators are mandatory reporters and are required by state law to report any suspected abuse or neglect of a child to law enforcement or to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families.
None of the three reported the sexual assaults on the female student, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.
At the time the criminal citations were issued, Louzao and Dunham were serving as assistant principals at Squalicum High School, while Hackney was an assistant principal at Bellingham High School.
All three were reassigned in early January to the school district’s Department of Teaching and Learning. They were also included among the list of 60 administrative staff members the district recommended to the school board for employment for the 2023-24 school year.
The school board approved that list at its May 18 meeting, The Herald previously reported.
Louzao and Dunham will return to their roles as assistant principals at Squalicum High School, while Hackney will return to her role as assistant principal at Bellingham High School, for the upcoming school year, according to Friday, Aug. 18, newsletters shared with parents, students and staff.
The updates stated that all three administrators returned to working at their respective high schools this summer and will continue to do so in the upcoming school year.
The updates stated Louzao, Dunham and Hackney “are continuing to navigate a legal issue which surfaced in December,” and said the district hopes “a resolution is reached soon.”
“Our district continues to be supportive of [Louzao] and [Dunham] and the staff involved, as we believe they acted in good faith and did not violate any reporting obligations. Please join me in welcoming back [Louzao] and [Dunham] and thanking staff from our District Office and community who supported Squalicum last year,” the update for Squalicum High School states.
The same statement was shared in the Bellingham High School update, but referenced Hackney.
“Assistant Principal Hackney staunchly continues to assert her innocence and looks forward to continuing to serve the students of Bellingham High School,” Hackney’s defense attorney Michael Brodsky said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon.
Jackie Brawley, a school district spokesperson, said the administrators returned to working at the high schools in late June. Brawley said the district made the decision to return the administrators to their assistant principal roles at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
“Our district continues to be supportive o these three staff as we believe they acted in good faith and did not violate any reporting obligations. We are confident that they will be able to effectively return to their roles and contribute to supporting students and staff,” Brawley said in a Friday, Aug. 18, email to The Herald.
When asked whether an internal administrative investigation into the three administrators actions was conducted, and if so, details regarding that investigation, Brawley said when the allegations against the district were brought forward in spring 2022, the district’s human resources department gathered and examined facts.
Brawley said the district continued to gather and analyze information after the citations were issued in December.
“At no time have we determined the employees violated district policy,” Brawley said in her Aug. 18 email.
When asked whether any of the three administrators had received any discipline for their alleged failures to report the student’s sexual assaults, Brawley said “We have not determined that they broke any school district policy, and they have thus not received discipline. However, we have devoted significant attention to ensuring that all of our staff, including these three, have received recent training into mandatory reporting obligations.”
The Herald has also reached out to the administrators’ attorneys for comment.
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The former Squalicum High School female student who has accused the district of mishandling her sexual assault reports filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Dec. 7 against Bellingham Public Schools. The student, who has since withdrawn from the high school and began attending another school, accused the district in her lawsuit of violating her federal Title IX rights, failing its duty to protect and care for her and neglecting its duties to report the sexual assaults to law enforcement.
She previously sought $1 million in damages from the district before filing the federal lawsuit.
The district denied it mishandled the student’s reports in its January response to the lawsuit. The district said it took reasonable steps to stop the reported harassment, that the assault allegations contained in the student’s lawsuit were not reported to the administrators and that the conduct that was reported to them was not considered abuse or neglect under state law.
The federal lawsuit is currently pending, federal court records show.
The male student accused of sexually assaulting the female student was sentenced July 19 in Whatcom County Juvenile Court to 18-20 weeks in the custody of the state Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration. (The county’s juvenile court is a division of Whatcom County Superior Court).
The boy previously pleaded guilty May 17 to amended charges of two counts of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. He also resolved two unrelated criminal cases at the time.
He was previously facing a charge of one count of indecent liberties by forcible compulsion for assaulting the female student in November and December 2021.
The jury trial for the administrators, originally set to begin in late July, was rescheduled at a mid-July hearing due to an attorney’s medical issues and because the lead Bellingham Police Department Detective in the case — Adam (Bo) S. McGinty — is now himself the subject of an internal administrative investigation and a criminal investigation.
McGinty is alleged to have misused public funds and has been placed on a dishonest officers list, The Herald previously reported.
The internal affairs investigation has since been completed and sent to Bellingham Police Chief Rebecca Mertzig for her determinations, which include whether McGinty will face any discipline. Mertzig has not yet made her decision, according to Bellingham Police Deputy Chief Don Almer and Lt. Claudia Murphy.
The criminal investigation into McGinty is ongoing, according to Mount Vernon Police Department Lt. Mike Moore. The Mount Vernon Police Department is conducting the criminal investigation into McGinty.
The three administrators jury trial is scheduled to start Aug. 28. They have a pre-trial hearing Friday, Aug. 25.
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published August 18, 2023 at 2:38 PM.
