By Andrew Michaels
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - There are more allegations of sexual misconduct involving the Louisiana School for the Deaf.
"I will tell you that I have no intention of taking this student back into this school," says Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek. He fought back tears while talking about a reported forced sex act between a teenage boy and elementary-age girl. Both attended the Louisiana School for the Deaf.
"I think as a mother, I am heart-broken that something like this would occur. It doesn't matter that it is not my child. It is a child I am responsible for," says Virginia Beridon, director of the Special School District.
Pastorek says the incident happened on the back seat of a bus taking hearing-impaired students from the School for the Deaf and visually-impaired students from the School for the Blind home for the weekend. There was a total of 14 students onboard. Both students involved attend the Louisiana School for the Deaf.
Kenny David, interim director of the School for the Deaf, says when another deaf student tried to get the chaperone's attention, the chaperone didn't respond. David says the chaperone was not proficient in American Sign Language and didn't understand. "I believe this situation goes beyond knowing signs. I believe the employee was negligent and a student was getting the employee's attention," David says.
Rene Greer with the Department of Education says this will cause them to take a closer look at the school's hiring practices. "We have allowed some employees to be hired who don't know sign language. We have a situation that requires us to look at that policy and see if it's the right thing to do," she says.
State police say the suspect is a 16-year-old male and the victim is a six-year-old female. Monday, the teenage student allegedly told a staff member what he did. He's been suspended and the girl is now at home. Wednesday, the chaperone was fired. The school, the Department of Education, and state police are investigating the incident.