Students call for new policies after alleged sex misconduct in Oak Park

By Jean Lotus Staff reporter
Oak Park and River Forest High School main entrance (Courtesy: OPRFHS. Facebook Page)

Oak Park and River Forest High School main entrance (Courtesy: OPRFHS. Facebook Page)

Oak Park and River Forest High School told parents last week school administrators are investigating an incident of sexual misconduct off campus by high school students last August. But students say the efforts by the school are too little too late, and the district needs to overhaul the policy and process after incidents of student sexual harassment and assault.

A Nov. 22 letter from OPRF District 200 Supt. Joylynn Pruitt said the school found out last summer, a few days after the fact, about “an alleged incident of off-campus sexual misconduct occurring between students” that occurred Aug. 27 at “an unauthorized party involving alcohol that took place at the home of a district assistant athletic coach while he was out of town,” Pruitt said in the letter.

Pruitt said the school reported the incident to the Oak Park Police Department, but

“[a]t the request of the police department, the District held off conducting its own inquiry into the alleged off-campus misconduct in order to avoid impeding law enforcement’s investigation,” the letter continued.

But for some students, the incident has been common knowledge for months, said Lauren Flowers, who wants the school to reevaluate how sexual assault and harassment complaints from students are dealt with.

OPRF Assistant wrestling coach Mike Powell (Courtesy: OPRFHS)

OPRF Assistant wrestling coach Mike Powell (Courtesy: OPRFHS)

Flowers has collected more than 1,600 signatures on paper and online petitions asking the OPRF School Board to revamp the schools sexual harassment policy to be more in line with the district’s policies on bullying and other misconduct.

“There are 3 1/2 pages of policy about bullying. There is so much detail about how a bullying case should be handled, including specific duration of investigations and steps adults should take,” Flowers said. “But the sexual harassment policy is only one page and it kind of explains what sexual harassment is. There’s no list of actions adults should take if they’re confronted with a sexual harassment or assault case.”

A female student was allegedly sexually assaulted during a booze-soaked student party with OPRF athletes at the vacant home of the coach, according to Flowers and other students who declined to be identified. The coach had allegedly asked students to care for his dog while he was out of town and given team members keys to his home, students said.

At the Nov. 17 D200 School Board meeting, parents complained that Mike Powell, an assistant wrestling coach, was being put on administrative leave. Powell has coached OPRF wrestlers for more than a decade. After being diagnosed in 2009 with an autoimmune disease that caused painful inflammation, Powell stepped down from his position as head coach to take an assistant role, according to a press release from OPRF.  Powell was recognized nationally in 2015 when he received the Medal of Courage award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla.

At the school board meeting, parents praised Powell and worried that the three-time state champion wrestling team would be harmed without his leadership.

The district did not confirm or deny that Powell was the assistant coach who allowed students access to his home.

OPRF Junior Lauren Flowers’s petition on the Change.org website. (Courtesy: Change.org)

OPRF Junior Lauren Flowers’s petition on the Change.org website. (Courtesy: Change.org)

“Much more has to be done on this issue than suspending a wrestling coach,” Flowers said.  “OPRF scapegoating a certain member of the staff is making it look like they’re dong something by suspending him.”

Flowers, a junior, said her own experience of the school’s inadequate response after she was allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed by a male student led her to reach out to the alleged assault victim in this most recent incident.

“We weren’t friends at the time that it happened,” Flowers said. “But I reached out to her, and told her ‘I’ve been though it so I can help you.’ It sucks to go through this. I didn’t want to talk about it to a lot of my friends. It’s hard to have people to connect to.”

For Flowers, harassment from the male student allegedly included late-night phone calls from friends’ or the other student’s mother’s phone, or rude comments on social media.

She said she remembered school staff telling her she needed to “make friends” with the person who allegedly assaulted her. Coaches intimidated her and allegedly told her she was deliberately trying to make contact with the other student, she said. Even an intervention with the police and the male student’s parent didn’t solve the problem.

“They should have not let him be around me, but the school tried to make it like I was trying to be around him,” she remembered.

Flowers said OPRF freshmen take a self-defense class for girls and “Stand Back” classes for boys, but she thinks the school needs to have a  “yearly consent curriculum” at the beginning of each school year.

“By the time you’re a sophomore or junior, you don’t remember enough of the stuff from the beginning of freshman year,” she said. Students need to have sexual harassment spelled out for them, so there’s no misunderstanding, she said.

“For example, there’s a certain line you shouldn’t cross if you’re teasing someone, and making it sexual is definitely crossing one of those lines.”

“We think we should start doing this now, so when people go to college, if something does happen they will recognize what’s happening. If [sexual assault] happens in college, there’s even less support and the faculty won’t be as understanding,” Flowers said.

Other policies Flowers wants revamped include making sure every student is held to the same standards — whether they are athletes or not, “zero-tolerance of rape culture in school” and enforcing IHSA contracts forbidding drinking and misconduct for athletes. She thinks it would be helpful for students to have access to support groups with adults who have been trained in sexual assault and misconduct cases.

Flowers and her companions will present the petitions to the school board at the next board meeting, she said.

Pruitt’s letter said the school made sure the alleged sex assault victim got the support she needed at school.

“The district did take immediate measures to respond to alleged victim’s needs within the school setting,” said the Nov. 22 letter.

The letter also promised parents the district would take a fresh look at how sexual misconduct was handled in the school.

“The district will undertake a thorough review of and revision to the district’s policies and procedures regarding sexual harassment and misconduct and reporting of such to ensure that students and staff feel comfortable in safely and immediately reporting inappropriate behavior,” Pruitt wrote.

“We will continually work to be direct and forthcoming on all school issues,” Pruitt concluded. “Let us be clear: Sexual harassment and misconduct is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

 

 

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— Students call for new policies after alleged sex misconduct in Oak Park —