Moderator — The WISH-TV investigative story on a 1998 hazing case at Carmel High School shows that the school was not required to release its settlement payment to a swimmer who alleged that three other swimmers harassed, bullied and sexually assaulted him when he was a first-year swimmer. Clearly, taxpayers in Carmel have a right to that PAYMENT information PAID WITH CARMEL TAX DOLLARS — as a similar hazing case at Poway High School demonstrated was right and necesary to reveal so far as the amount was concerned. I hope Indianapolis stations or the Indianapolis Star newspaper can get those records.
The video follows from WISH-TV
http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/hamilton_county/past-carmel-suit-details-alleged-abuse
Here is a similar case in Michigan and background on that Poway High School case which was investigated by the San Diego Tribune. The Tribune filed a FOIA request and obtained the amount.
http://www.hanknuwer.com/blog/?s=tunison
Editorial: The Coopersville Settlement Must Be Made Public
July 15th, 2009
Coopersville School District Has a Duty to Release Sum
by Hank Nuwer
A hazing settlement in the news in Michigan is a case of deja vu all over.
Back in 1997, Rancho Bernardo High School (California, Poway School District) endured the physical hazing and sexual assault of a junior varsity baseball player.
After a rookie baseball player was sodomized with an object in the locker
room, he settled for $675,000 with the district, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The paper had gone to uncommon lengths to get the school district to reveal any details at all.
Court records showed that the attack was part of a six-year pattern of assault in several sports and was deeply entrenched in school athletics, according to the newspaper which cited facts from these court records.
The key to why the Union-Tribune fought so hard is that the Poway district was forking over money from taxpayer dollars.
Now flashforward 12 years and reporter John Tunison of The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan has reported this news item on July 15: the “Coopersville school district settles [2007] hazing case for undisclosed sum.”
Undisclosed sum. Shades of Poway. Red flag up and waving for the Coopersville school district to see.
The quotes he supplied echoes precisely what the embattled officials of the Poway school district said twelve years ago.
“We don’t want everything stirred up and have any animosity toward these kids,” Superintendent Kevin O’Neill said, according to the Press.
The federal judge who approved “an undisclosed settlement Tuesday between the Coopersville school district and two victims of 2007 hazing incidents,” made “a deal officials said is confidential to protect victims from harassment and move the community forward.”
I am not questioning the sincerity of the statement by Supervisor O’Neill nor the good intentions of the judge. But a judge’s job is not to rewrite the law but to carry out the law. The job of the Coopersville supervisor is to tell taxpayers exactly where their dollars are spent–or if the settlement will be covered by insurance [in which case it may be even more sticky for the superintendent to reveal the amount. But if that is true, the superintendent can put responsibility on the insurance company, not the judge).
As a former assistant prosecutor in Michigan familiar with hazing cases reminded me today, confidential settlements in civil cases are very common. Both parties must agree to the resolution and the confidentiality agreement. The agreement usually provides that if a party violates the confidentiality agreement, additional sanctions can be imposed–usually monetary–that would cost (in this case) the school district additional funds.
The judge usually has no say in the matter. It is not up to the judge to impose her or his will upon the settlement or the agreement. If the parties agree to the confidentiality, the judge says, “Okay.” According to the former assistant prosecutor, in other cases it has occurred that school administrators attempt to shift responsibility to the judge when it is, after all, an agreement between the parties to the litigation. Is it possible that Superintendent O’Neill, through his quotes, hoped to shift the burden to the judge as to why the settlement was confidential.
Of course a judge retains the discretion in any case to approve or disapprove a settlement, but it would be rare for a judge to nix such a civil case settlement. There are hundreds of pending cases in a federal court and the vast majority of cases are settled before trial. It behooves a judge to bring as many cases as possible to early resolution.
One hopes that the Press was quoting from an official court document in writing for me to believe that a judge noted on the record or to the parties that the court decided on its own to add a condition of confidentiality. Without such a document the superintendent might have been allowed to get away with fluff (and remember that a judge cannot and except in unusual situations should not respond to media questions about a case).
Nonetheless, it would be a good thing for the newspaper to reveal the amount. A few points soberly to consider:
If settlements could not be maintained as confidential, the judicial process could–I am not predicting that it would–back up, according to my former assistant prosecutor friend. The confidential aspect of settlement agreements may factor in plaintiff or defendant (or both) resolving cases short of trial. Some parents of hazing victims do not want people to know how much or how little they received, as was the case following a death years ago at Alfred University.
I also agree the names of the victims should be omitted. Is there anyone in the Coopersville school district who doesn’t already know the names? But important information that the public needs to know and that may influence public policy elsewhere in Michigan or even nationwide needs to come out with traditional public disclosure. This is probably not an issue for the Press. Except in a few cases (most notably Robertson High School in New Mexico in 2009 where perpetrators saw their names in print), newspapers tend to take the high road of protecting the names of all juveniles no matter what their involvement.
In other words the rights of the victims can be protected without taking away the right of the public to judge its school officials.
And at Poway, there certainly were huge questions raised about the stewardship of Poway school administrators. Those questions only could be raised by full disclosure and written documents, not what turned out to be the self-serving assertions of Poway administrators.
So what we have here is the need for precedent in such cases. The settlement amount may be low after attorney fees and expenses are paid. Other families of victims may be reluctant to take a case to court, but it is the responsibility of the newspaper to report the facts, not be an advocate here.
The San Diego newspaper did what it was supposed to do, unpopular decision or not with the District.
It showed taxpayers what their tax dollars were paying for and why.
Coopersville in my opinion too has a duty to reveal all here in the newspaper. All, I mean, but the names of victims and the perpetrators.
Is this painful?
You bet. But it may stop another school district from becoming another Poway or Coopersville in the future because school boards and school administrators elsewhere are getting a hard lesson in the necessity of hazing prevention.
It’s my job as an author of four books on hazing to try to track these cases so that reporters representing the public good have some case history to examine. All these hazing cases are slowly but surely going to be in the archives of the Buffalo State Hazing Collection I started for reporters and scholars to check.
The buck doesn’t stop here just because a school supervisor–likely with the approval of the board on advice of counsel–says so.
The buck stops with what a good newspaper can uncover. That is why the Grand Rapids Press needs to file a freedom of information request.
And if you feel strongly one way or the other, why not write a letter to the editor?
Update 1:34 p.m.
Update: 5:33 p.m.
Hazing shame
September 13th, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
By John Tunison
The Grand Rapids Press
WEST OLIVE — One parent described the attacks on his son as “true evil.”
Months after a Coopersville High School hazing incident — complete with expulsions and criminal charges against four members of the junior varsity baseball team — the victims’ families say they still are dealing with the fallout.
Moments before one of the suspects was sentenced Tuesday in Ottawa County Family Court, a father told of panic attacks, missed work and crying bouts faced by family members while trying to deal with the emotional stress.
We hope this young man’s parents see the true evil their son has taken to control other families,” he said while looking toward 15-year-old Joshua Schoenborn and his parents, David and Valerie Schoenborn.
“We continue to pray for our family and your family as well,” he said.
Schoenborn was the third of four teens charged with gross indecency to enter a plea and avoid a trial.
He pleaded no contest to the charge and was sentenced to a minimum six months of probation, 26 hours of community service and counseling for “bullying” if ordered by a psychologist.
Scott Bush, 15, and Zane Schaefer, 16, earlier received similar sentences, while Rob Miller was expected to enter a plea today.
The four teens were accused of restraining students and performing indecent acts during the hazing incidents.
Five junior varsity baseball team members reported being victims of some type of assault or hazing during a four-to-six week period in April and May, although the criminal charges involve two victims. Some of the victims also became lesser perpetrators after they were intimidated into joining the assaultive behavior, investigators said.
Tuesday’s hearing proved emotional for parents of both Schoenborn and the victims, who clashed verbally during a brief moment when David Schoenborn questioned the lack of adult supervision in the locker room, apparently trying to deflect some blame from his son.
He also suggested one victim, whose mother was in the courtroom, was “involved” in the assaultive behavior.
“You pig!” the mother said as she ran out of the courtroom, only to return a few minutes later as court Referee Erin Magley called for calm. Schoenborn apologized for speaking out of turn.
During a statement, the mother said her son transferred to a new school because of the stigma and worries whether other students there know about the hazing or will find out.
She also said her 10-year-old daughter struggles emotionally and has heard other students talk about the hazing.
The father of the other primary victim called for harsher punishment than probation and suggested Schoenborn should be placed in a juvenile detention center.
“This has robbed my son of his innocence,” he said. “He blames himself for being attacked and wonders what he could have done differently.”
Magley warned Schoenborn’s parents to take the matter seriously and said the family as a whole needs to accept responsibility.
“It is not typical school bullying behavior. This rises above that,” she said. “This behavior is particularly offensive and distressful to the victim.”
Grand Rapids paper: Father thinks punishment for son’s being sodomized in hazing not enough
August 3rd, 2007
Here is the article:
Hazing victim’s dad sizzles as teen gets probation
Friday, August 03, 2007
By John Tunison
The Grand Rapids Press
WEST OLIVE — A father lashed out at a Coopersville teen Thursday for his role in a school hazing that left his son — one of two victims — ostracized from the community
“He has destroyed our lives, my parents’ lives,” said the father, whose son was on the junior varsity baseball team when others held him down, touched his genitals and violated him in other ways. “My parents are crying all the time. Our house is up for sale because of this and what he has done.”
He spoke moments before Ottawa County juvenile court Referee Babara Forman sentenced Scott Howard Bush, 15, to six months of probation, 14 hours of community service and counseling as ordered by a court psychologist.
Bush, who pleaded guilty Thursday to gross indecency, is one of four teen-agers charged in the hazings that happened at least 13 times during a four- to six-week period in April and May.
The other teens, Rob Miller, Zane Schaefer and Josh Schoenborn, are awaiting trial.
All were expelled from Coopersville Public Schools for a minimum of one year, with the possibility of applying for readmission for the 2008-2009 year. School administrators also ordered 80 hours of community service.
Prosecutors said Bush was responsible for violating one of the victims.
That victim’s father, who was in a small hearing room with his wife to hear the sentencing, wanted a tougher punishment.
“In order for him to be repentant, there has to be real justice, a real penalty,” he said, reciting hazing acts his son endured, including one incident involving a toothbrush used in his rectal area.
“This young man has shown no remorse for us,” the father said. “And he has shown no remorse toward” the victim.
Bush admitted to some acts as part of the plea, but said little else.
He began weeping as the father talked about the incidents he estimated happened much more than 13 times. Others sat on his son’s face with bare bottoms, the father said, and slapped him in the belly to make his skin turn pink.
An Ottawa County Family Court caseworker who recommended probation said the punishment was appropriate, especially since Bush has no criminal past nor history of behavior problems.
“This is not a young man who has had a pattern of delinquency,” caseworker Dirk Schmitt said. “I would call him a pretty stellar student, if you isolated him from this incident.
Schmitt said he thinks Bush will learn from the mistake.
“I think he is appropriately mortified by the situation. It’s been a difficult reality for him,” he said.
The victim’s father said his son has few or no friends left at school, and the family wants to move away from the area to make a fresh start. He said his 13-year-old daughter is distraught over the plan, fearing she will not adjust at a new school.
“But I don’t want my son here because of the things that are being done and said to him,” he said.
Bush’s attorney, Joe Legatz, said the teen is remorseful.
“I think some of the kids did it out of fear that if they didn’t, they would be the recipients,” he said. “Scott was certainly not a leader in this.”
Legatz questioned how the hazing perpetuated itself over weeks and whether parents need to be more connected with their children.
“You have to wonder how it could develop this far,” he said.
Bush will not be placed on the state’s juvenile sex-offender registry because gross indecency is not an offense covered by the law.
Moderator's note: As moderator, I'll publish all relevant news stories, letters from activists, pro-hazing letters, and opinion pieces. Although hazing in fraternities, high schools, bands, camp, the military and overseas groups is a hot-button issue, civility is expected. If a letter needs editing for grammar or clarity, I'll edit and return for the letter writer's approval if an email address is attached. BIO: Hank Nuwer is the editor of The Hazing Reader (Indiana University Press) and High School Hazing (Grolier/Scholastic). My website is http://hazing.hanknuwer.com.
