Over the last several years, there has been publication related to inadequate responses of law enforcement and DCS related to abuse in our community. CSA has often been under-investigated. Not only this, last year GOP moved to dissolve an independent child advocacy commission.
‘Systemic failures’ of police investigations imperiled child sex abuse cases, prosecutor says
Audit: Tennessee Department of Children’s Services failed to investigate sexual abuse
Tennessee child advocates raise alarm as GOP moves to dissolve child advocacy commission
On top of this, the use of NDAs in CSA cases has been routine, which can make it difficult for individuals to speak up about cases and bring to light shortcomings in responses to claims of abuse.
Non-Disclosure Agreements Conceal Abuse
NDAs have come under scrutiny as a tool for concealing dangerous practices by both abusive individuals and institutions. Over the last several years, much of the attention related to NDAs concerns sexual abuse, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace. NDAs prevent individuals from speaking up about their experiences. This can perpetuate cultures of sexual harassment and abuse, concealing the presence of these activities thus allowing them to continue. In addition, NDAs may impede individuals from speaking with family, friends, therapists, reporting to legal authorities, or making disclosures to protect the public interest. Also, many bound by an NDA find it personally damaging to be stripped of their voice.
Not enough attention has been given toward the use of NDAs in child sexual abuse cases. The same dangers are present in the use of NDAs for child sexual abuse cases, but the harms concealed affects children – the most vulnerable in our communities. There are many examples of institutions such as sports organizations, camps, and churches which have used NDAs. This limited accountability and scrutiny for all involved parties and allowed abusers in some cases to abuse many additional victims.
I have shared my experience with an NDA in this prior post.
In April 2023, I learned via news reports that a member of GOP leadership was found guilty of sexually harassing a legislative intern. He retained his leadership position and government money had been spent on moving expenses for the intern. It was later reported that the intern felt like they were trying to buy her silence.
‘Trying to buy my silence’: We’ve got the sexual harassment receipts (newschannel5.com)
From the article, I learned that Rep. Bill Beck had previously passed a law to make government agencies’ sexual harassment settlements public.
Following reading this news article, I looked up the referenced law. At the same time, I found Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-34-103.
Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any provision of a settlement agreement that has the purpose or effect of concealing the details relating to a claim of child sexual abuse, as defined in § 37-1-602, is void and unenforceable as contrary to the public policy of this state; except that identifying information concerning a victim of child sexual abuse shall be deemed and maintained as confidential.
This law was passed in 2018. I was surprised that I had never heard of it before since this has been a topic of great interest to me. I don’t recall nor have I found any publicity related to the passing of this law. I am not sure why this is the case.
Personal Efforts to Raise Awareness and Address Public Safety Issues
Over the last eight years, I have been seeking to raise awareness regarding the serious public safety issues related to the handling of child sexual abuse cases in group childcare settings in Tennessee. In 2014, a three-year-old boy made a verbal disclosure of abuse alleging that his teacher anally and orally raped him the week before. Though this teacher had a supervisory role over dozens of other toddlers over an extended period, the scope of the investigation was limited to the one disclosing child. This is a serious public safety issue that parents were not informed their child was supervised by an alleged sexual offender in a group childcare setting, especially considering the severity of the allegations and the developmental status of the exposed toddlers.
I have sought to bring attention regarding these serious public safety issues to multiple law enforcement agencies, DCS, Brentwood city officials, multiple legislators, and child sexual abuse advocates. I have also reached out to multiple clergy as well as the Boys Scouts and Metro Nashville Public Schools to inform both organizations of the presence of a convicted sexual offender in their organizations.
Between 2016 and 2019, I felt like I was making some headway in raising awareness and potentially resolving some of my concerns. However, it felt as if I ran into roadblocks. And, in some ways, it felt as if my efforts were counterproductive. In addition, it was a tumultuous time in the legislature, and I felt limited in seeking assistance legislatively. My state representative had resigned due to scandals, and my state senator was married to the judge for our case in which paperwork was introduced unbeknownst to us that made the confidentiality of our settlement overly broad and contrary to the public interest.
Between 2019 and 2023, I have maintained interest in raising awareness of the very serious public safety issues, though I was less active than I had been between 2016 and 2019. It is not because I felt less strongly. It was more due to the roadblocks and the uncertainty as to the most effective approach.
Through 2023, the case and corresponding issues came back into my attention more acutely. I felt strongly compelled to address the public safety issues and sought out legal assistance. In the fall of 2023, I contacted attorneys at Horwitz Law and retained them to represent me.
Are School Principals Being Notified of Juvenile Delinquencies as Required by Law?
In the past, I have shared several contacts and correspondences I have had with the various organizations and individuals, such as the Brentwood PD, the boy scouts, the church that sponsored the boy scout troop, and various legislators. I have not shared my notice to Metro Nashville Public Schools.
I feel partly motivated to share this as I have seen other cases in which breakdowns in communication and legal missteps led to horrific results.
Nashville clerk mistake blamed in Lauren Johansen’s Mississippi death (tennessean.com)
“Records show that several instructions outlined in a court order detailing the conditions of Rivers’ release were not followed, which Robert Johansen says allowed Rivers to leave Nashville, travel to Mississippi and kill his daughter.”
Perusing the local news, I routinely observe shortcomings and breakdowns in the legal system. However, in CSA cases, similar breakdowns may be happening, but they are more likely to remain hidden.
I made a contact to a principal at the school the juvenile offender was zoned for 0n October 18, 2017. By this point, I had lost trust that notification procedures would have been followed. Based on what I can tell, for certain juvenile offences, notification of a school principal is required by law.
Tennessee Compilation of School Discipline Laws and Regulations 3-20-2015
See section heading titled “Monitoring and Accountability”.
I found the zoned school for the teen offender, Hillsboro High School, and I emailed the principal.
Dr. Pelham,
I am writing to inform you that a convicted juvenile sex offender resides at an address that is zoned for Hillsboro. I do not know whether he actually attends an MNPS or has transferred to a private school. However, I know that the family has attended MNPS schools in the past including Hume Fogg.
The student’s name and address is
[Redacted]
His parent’s names are [Redacted]
[Redacted] pleaded guilty and was charged with aggravated sexual battery in 2015 for an incident in 2014 in a church classroom in Brentwood. He was a Sunday school teacher for a three year old class along with other family members. He also taught a two year old class in the ministry year before the incident. The victim was a three year old boy who accused him of oral and anal rape. From what I was told, [Redacted] was not sentenced to any jail time.
Given that juvenile records are sealed and there are privacy laws, I wasn’t sure that MNPS was notified.
I am also going to share some additional information since the scope of the investigation only included the one disclosing child. As such, there was a missed opportunity to uncover the potential full scope of the situation. With young children, there is a limited window of opportunity to do an interview as their long term memory is not as developed as an older child or an adult. No one can say for certain the offender didn’t attack multiple children multiple times. Potentially, he could present more danger to the community than a one-time offender.
The investigative process completely ignored the dozens of other children exposed to [Redacted] either as potential victims or witnesses. This is concerning for two reasons – the only other teachers were [Redacted] relatives and all the community leaders with inside knowledge of the situation can provide no assurance the other children were unharmed. I do know of other families whose sons showed signs of abuse. The BPD knows this. No other prosecutions are possible. Part of the plea deal protected [Redacted] from future prosecutions from children in the class. The families from the three year old class were notified of an incident between two juveniles sometime between August 2014 and 2015. I don’t know if the families from the two year old class were ever notified. I didn’t learn of the actual allegations until late 2015.
I tried reaching out to[Redacted] parents since my son had signs of abuse during the time he was under [Redacted] supervision. [Redacted]. I asked the parents if [Redacted] brought my son to the bathroom, and I received no reply.
If this student is an MNPS student and you have not already been notified, I hope you find this information helpful. I would think that school staff would want to know of a student that had a conviction for acting out violently toward another juvenile, especially to one that is helpless and defenseless.
Sincerely,
[Redacted]
| Pelham, Andrew S | Oct 18, 2017, 3:04 PM |  | |
| to me | |||
Thank you for sharing this information.
Shuler Pelham, Ed.D.
Executive Principal, Hillsboro High School
3812 Hillsboro Rd.
Nashville, TN 37215
I don’t know whether Metro Nashville Public Schools were contacted appropriately prior to my message. It does appear that notification of school principals is legally required. When students are in high school, there are additional extra-curricular activities. Some of these activities are overnight and others are day long activities in venues outside of the zoned school. For overnight activities, students might stay in a hotel, with four students per room. This highlights the importance of this legally mandated notice.
So much about how the case and aftermath was handled is very concerning. The case was limited to one disclosing child. Additional children or parents were not contacted as either potential victims or witnesses, and a Brentwood PD informed me of a plea deal that prevented the offender from future prosecutions. Was the school principal appropriately notified in accordance with the law? Is this the kind of conduct citizens from our community leaders that we should come to expect? At a minimum, additional transparency and accountability is need with respect to CSA cases. The community needs to know what to expect of our community leaders when claims of CSA arise and how to effectively address shortcomings in responses processes should those occur.