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NY principal resigns after covering up lewd photo scandal
involving special-ed kids
By Katherine Donlevy
December 16, 2022 6:41pm Updated
Principal Brett Miller did not alert officials to the confessions of two students that took photographs of their special needs peers in the bathroom. bcsdny.org
A Westchester County high school principal is resigning after a damning report found he covered up for students who took lewd pictures of special education peers in the bathroom.
Two of the four teens involved confessed to the disturbing deed at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY last March, but Principal Brett Miller and several other Bedford administrators kept the admissions to themselves even though police were involved, third-party investigator Kroll found.
Miller did not discipline the two boys, the report released Tuesday stated. The involvement of the other pair only emerged after investigators reviewed footage.
“The administrative team was more focused on covering themselves through lies, misdirection and avoidance than they were on the well-being of the students they claim to always put first,” Karen Close, the mother of one of the victimized kids, told CBS News.
Close’s daughter, Jennifer, blamed student culture for the act against her brother, stating his harassers thought it was funny to take and share pictures of their vulnerable classmates.
“There is an obvious problem with the students in this school district and as the leaders of this school district you need to find a way to break through to these students in a beneficial way,” said Close.
Bedford Superintendent Robert Glass announced that Miller will leave the district by the end of the school year.
lohud/screenshot
Miller will remain employed at the district, though not as a principal, through June, but plans to resign sooner if he finds other employment, Bedford Superintendent Robert Glass said at a Wednesday school board meeting.
Another school district employee who knew of the confessions, Director of Pupil Services Edward Escobar, is on leave “for the foreseeable future.”
According to the Kroll report, a student whistleblower alerted school administrators to the invasion of privacy. The two boys admitted they were behind the act 10 days later.
Miller, the school’s assistant principal and Dignity for All Students Act coordinator were also all aware of the confessions but did not discipline the boys or tell police they’d found the culprits, the report said.
The Dignity for All Students Act is a state law designed to root out discrimination and harassment in schools.
A third party report found that the administrators failed to take “charge of the investigation.”
Facebook/ Bedford Central School District
Despite being aware of the two students who confessed, Miller told police there was “still no evidence” of who was behind the lewd videos and photos.
At a school board meeting several weeks later, Miller also told parents that “nobody cracked” during student interviews.
The Kroll report found “no one in the administration took charge of the investigation into the reported misconduct and no one took responsibility for ensuring key constituencies were provided timely and accurate information.”
“Multiple times during the investigation the information which was provided was incomplete and/or inaccurate which in turn hindered the Superintendent from properly discharging his duties to the Board and the community,” it said.
At Kroll’s suggestion, the Bedford School District is implementing training for school administrators for effective communication during investigations and is working to revise its parental notification policy, Lohud reported.
Glass said the district will also review its DASA training to ensure it meets the highest standard.
“The release of this report has opened a wound that had not fully healed following an egregious event,” Glass said.
“This is about being reliable. This is about being accountable. This is about rebuilding trust all around.”
No. This is about the Special Needs kids and how their dignity was completely trashed by students and school administrators. Miller and Escobar should be fired immediately and the reasons why stated on their permanent record.
Athena Strand: FedEx driver accused of 7-year-old's
kidnapping, murder faces new child sex abuse charges
Tanner Horner newly charged with three counts of sex abuse of a minor
related to 2013 alleged incidents
By Danielle Wallace | Fox News
The mother of Athena Strand, a Texas girl who was found dead last week after being missing for several days, is speaking publicly for the first time.
The FedEx driver accused of abducting and killing 7-year-old Athena Strand was hit with new sex abuse of a minor charges in unrelated incidents that allegedly occurred roughly a decade ago.
Tanner Lynn Horner, a contract driver for FedEx, was already charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in connection to Strand’s death. This week, the 30-year-old was newly charged with three additional counts of sexual assault of a child in unrelated cases out of Fort Worth.
Court records show those alleged incidents occurred in 2013, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
No additional details were immediately available about those cases.
Horner allegedly admitted to abducting Strand while delivering a package to her father’s home in Paradise, a town of fewer than 500 people about 60 miles northwest of Dallas. Her body was found on Dec. 2 two days after she was reported missing less than 10 miles away from the property.
Athena Strand, 7, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by 30-year-old FedEx delivery driver Tanner Lynn Horner. (Wise County Sheriff's Office)
The girl’s mother, Maitlyn Gandy, revealed Horner was delivering a package of Barbie dolls intended to be Strand’s Christmas present this year. Strand was to return to Oklahoma with her mother after the holidays and had been staying with her father, Jacob Strand, and stepmother in Wise County.
Maitlyn Gandy gives a statement about the death of her daughter, Athena Strand, 7, at the Wise County Courthouse in Decatur, Texas, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. (Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP)
According to the arrest warrant, Horner told investigators that he strangled the 7-year-old after accidentally hitting her with his van while making a delivery at her father’s home. He said Strand wasn't seriously hurt after he hit her while backing up, but he panicked and put her in his van.
Horner said the girl was talking to him and told him her name, according to the warrant. But the driver said he didn’t want her to tell her father what happened, so he first tried to break the girl's neck and when that didn’t work, he strangled her with his hands in the back of the van, the warrant said.
The warrant said Horner took investigators to where he'd left Athena's body.
His bond was set at $1.5 million. Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said the death penalty will be sought.
The girl’s father has since sued FedEx and the Texas-based contractor that hired Horner, reportedly seeking $1 million in damages and a jury trial.
No indication here of any sexual assault on Athena. Thank God for small mercies!
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