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Police Look into School District

Posted on: Saturday, 11 March 2006, 06:01 CST

By Benita Y. Williams and Diane Carroll, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Mar. 11--Police launched a formal investigation this week into whether Shawnee Mission school officials correctly handled reports that a high school coach was improperly involved with a former student.

School officials never reported the allegations to his department, said Prairie Village Police Capt. Wes Jordan.

This is the second time in as many months that the school district has come under fire for its handling of criminal matters. Both incidents involved Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village.

In early February, police and Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison accused the district of not properly reporting allegations that an East student had placed a toxic substance in a teacher's drink. While investigating that case, police learned of allegations that the same student had threatened a different teacher two months earlier.

The current investigation involves sexual misconduct charges against former East volleyball coach Terry L. Wright II.

Under Kansas law, school officials are required to call police when they know or have reason to believe a crime has been committed. Another Kansas law requires teachers and school administrators to notify the state when they suspect a child has been physically or sexually abused.

Failing to comply with either law is a misdemeanor.

In the Wright case, investigators are trying to determine whether what a parent told school officials about the volleyball coach last year was enough to trigger those mandatory reporting requirements.

"That's what we're looking into: What did the school district know and when did they know it?" Jordan said.

Officials at the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, which investigates child abuse complaints, won't say whether allegations against the coach were reported to them, stating their records are confidential.

Citing the investigation, Shawnee Mission School District spokeswoman Leigh Anne Neal declined to comment on the reporting issue but said, "The school district has been making every effort to cooperate with the county attorney and the police in their investigations."

Neal added that the district's standard practice is for administrators who receive reports of concern to look into the issue and, when appropriate, to report it to the proper authorities.

"If it requires reporting to the police or SRS, we make those contacts," she said.

The district continues to encourage such reports from parents, students and staff, Neal added.

The charges against Wright involve two volleyball players he coached. Wright, 35, is accused of having sex with one girl between Feb. 13, 2001, and July 6, 2003, first when the child was under 14 and later before she turned 16.

Wright also is accused of fondling a second girl between Feb. 23, 2003, and June 1, 2005, when she was a 16- or 17-year-old student at Shawnee Mission East at the time Wright was a coach.

Wright has pleaded not guilty.

The charges resulted from an investigation by the Leawood Police Department, which took up the case after the younger girl and her parents, who are Leawood residents, came to them in January.

However, Jordan said another parent has alleged she told the school district in September that Wright was dating the older girl and that she believed the relationship was going on the previous school year when the girl was a student.

Wright resigned in November after the volleyball season.

Shortly after the case was filed this year, Jordan said, he received complaints about how the district handled the incident. He said the department did a preliminary inquiry and this week shared those findings with Morrison, who advised a formal investigation.

Morrison said police had completed the first half of their investigation when he met with them this week. They now are proceeding with the second half, which involves interviews with school district officials, he said.

Once the police report back to him, Morrison said, he will determine if the school district violated the law and, if so, to what extent. His office has filed cases under the mandated reporting laws before, he said. But it also could choose to issue a reprimand only.

The drink-tampering incident began Jan. 27 when a teacher reported to school officials that he noticed an odd taste in his drink. But Jordan said the school resource officer supplied by the police did not find out until five days later. It was still later, Jordan said, when police learned about the previous threat.

District officials have said that administrators conducted their own investigation before police got involved. They also said the school took disciplinary action against the student.

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To reach Benita Y. Williams, call (816) 234-7714 or send e-mail to bwilliams@kcstar.com . To reach Diane Carroll, call (816) 234-7704 or send e-mail to dcarroll@kcstar.com .

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

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Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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