INDIANAPOLIS — A federal investigation into how the Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township handled sexual misconduct allegations is still pending two and a half years later, WRTV has learned.
As WRTV Investigates reported, the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched a Title IX investigation in May 2022 into allegations a then-employee of MSD of Decatur Township sexually harassed a student.
The Office for Civil Rights, which is part of the U.S. Department of Education, is looking into how the MSD of Decatur Township handled allegations of sexual harassment involving an employee who resigned in February 2022.
Title IX is the 1972 civil rights law known for breaking down barriers for women in sports. Title IX also bans sexual discrimination in education and requires K-12 schools to address reports of sexual misconduct.
Schools risk losing federal funding if they are found in violation of Title IX.
Since the investigation began, the district’s leadership has changed.
MSD Decatur Township’s superintendent Dr. Matt Prusiecki retired in February 2024.
The school district selected a new superintendent, Dr. Scott Collins, who took over on July 1, 2024.
Collins said he’s not aware of any updates on the Title IX investigation.
“The MSD of Decatur Township has not received any communication from the OCR since March 2023,” said Dr. Collins in an email to WRTV.
WRTV Investigates also contacted the federal Office for Civil Rights, and a spokesperson said they do not comment on open cases.
Complaints from parents Shalena and Tony Bender prompted the investigation alleging their oldest daughter was the victim of sexual harassment by a then-school employee.
The Benders say they’re not sure what is taking so long.
“We are disappointed it’s taken this long but we are looking for positive change and know that it may take some time,” said Tony Bender. “At the end of the day, we are hoping that the kids will be heard and processes are changed to support their voices.”
Several factors can impact how long it may take to resolve a complaint that is opened for investigation, including resource constraints as well as, for example, school responsiveness to document requests, witness availability, and volume of documents to review, a U.S. Department of Education spokesperson told WRTV.
WRTV Investigates filed a records request in 2022 and obtained a five-page letter from the Office for Civil Rights to MSD Decatur Township dated May 9, notifying them they opened a Title IX investigation.
The five-page letter shows OCR asked the MSD Decatur Township to provide a slew of documentation including:
- Names and titles of school district employees designated as Title IX coordinators
- A copy of the 2021-2022 student handbook
- A list of all training session given to school employees on sexual harassment in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years and the names and qualifications of those who provided the training
- A copy of all written complaints of sexual harassment or mistreatment of female students since 2018 involving the teacher in question
- A description of all actions taken by the district to investigate and respond to the complaints
- A list of all other reports of sexual harassment of students during the 2021-22 school year and the district’s investigation of each report
WRTV Investigates found more than a dozen K-12 schools and universities also have pending Title IX investigations for sexual harassment, several of which have been pending longer than Decatur Township.
SCHOOL AND OPEN INVESTIGATION DATE
- BUTLER UNIVERSITY 8/15/2023
- DUNELAND SCHOOL CORP. 5/31/2022
- MSD SOUTHWEST ALLEN COUNTY 7/3/2024
- LEBANON COMMUNITY SCH CORP. 10/7/2024
- LOGANSPORT COMMUNITY SCH CORP 10/2/2023
- MSD DECATUR TOWNSHIP 5/9/2022
- MSD SOUTHWEST ALLEN COUNTY 5/30/2024
- GREATER CLARK COUNTY SCHOOLS 3/10/2023
- IU- PURDUE UNIV-INDIANAPOLIS 4/18/2023
- ALEXANDRIA COM SCHOOL CORP 3/15/2024
- NORTHWESTERN CONSOLIDATED 12/15/2022
- PENN-HARRIS-MADISON SCH CORP 3/10/2023
- WESTERN SCHOOL CORP 6/21/2022
- SCHOOL CITY OF MISHAWAKA 5/13/2024
WRTV Investigates is not naming the former employee because he has not been criminally charged, and he is not named in the federal government’s letter to MSD of Decatur Township.
Shalena Bender says they became concerned in fall 2021.
“Our daughter just broke out crying and said, 'I don’t want what happened to me to happen to my little sister,'” Shalena Bender said. “She said he would walk in while they were changing with his phone out, claiming he had to take attendance on more than one occasion, that he would be in a room with lights off, door shut with some other kids. She said he would also brush by them in the hallway and make sexually inappropriate comments about them.”
Shalena Bender said she and other parents contacted the district’s administration about the harassment allegations.
“I was horrified, completely horrified,” Shalena Bender said.
MSD of Decatur Township opened its own Title IX investigation in December 2021, but it came to a halt when the teacher resigned from the district on Feb. 9.
Bender said she was shocked when the employee resigned.
“I can't believe they're just going to let this go and pretend it never happened,” Shalena Bender said. “One thing we asked for was these girls need counseling. They stated they had no obligation to do that."
Parents are also concerned because the teacher attended an event on school property after his resignation.
“They allowed him to come back and be around all these kids even with these accusations,” Shalena Bender said.
In an email to WRTV in 2022, the then-superintendent of MSD Decatur Township said the former employee has not been banned from school property and they’re aware of one instance in which he has been on school property since his resignation.
The event was an extra-curricular school event that was open to the public, Prusiecki said, and the former employee was only in areas of school property that were open to all members of the public.
Mother Tarah Bunch, as well as the Benders, both filed complaints against MSD Decatur Township with the federal Office for Civil Rights.
"I filed a complaint with the OCR and I reached out to you for help, because I didn't know where else to go,” Bunch said. “They just didn't handle it properly. I think he should not have been able to resign until the end of the investigation or at a minimum, the investigation should be carried out so we could find out their findings."
Bunch said they left MSD Decatur Township because the district retaliated against her daughter.
Records show the OCR’s investigation into retaliation at MSD Decatur Township is also still pending.
If OCR finds Title IX violations, the district could have to pay fines or make changes to its procedures and training.
The Office for Civil Rights receives roughly 14,000 complaints a year related to elementary and secondary schools.
“Many of these complaints are currently being evaluated. In that same time period, however, OCR opened or resolved over 7,500 cases,” according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education.
Not every complaint becomes an investigation. The agency evaluates each one to determine if they have jurisdiction, if they have enough information and if the allegations are timely.
In 2021, the Office for Civil Rights found the North West Hendricks School Corporation violated Title IX when it failed to address sexual harassment complaints.
As part of a five-page resolution agreement with the Office for Civil Rights, the North West Hendricks School Corporation has to make the following changes to comply with Title IX:
- Develop and implement a system to preserve records maintained under Title IX
- Provide training on the record-keeping system
- Provide “effective training to all employees” on Title IX
- Conduct surveys on the effectiveness of the training
- For a period of two years, the district must provide to OCR copies of sexual harassment complaints, final reports, documentation of supportive measures provided and copies of final notices provided to the parties
- Contact parents of current and former students who reported sexual harassment during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years and invite them to share their concerns
