Teen girl ‘suspended and forced to attend class called sexual harassment is preventable’ after reporting assault

‘They are making her feel like she is being punished for coming forward’

(WBTV)

A teenager girl was suspended and then forced to attaned a class called ‘sexual harassment is preventable’ after she reported her sexual assault by a classmate.

The 15-year-old student at Hawthorne Academy High School inCharlotte, North Carolina, told authorities that a fellow sophomore student had harassed her on a regular basis, on one occasion following her into the bathroom, where she says he sexually assaulted her.

And although the male student was charged over the incident, the school opted to suspend the female student over what it allegedly decided was a lack of evidence in the case.

The girl’s mother said in an interview with WBTV: “The school did their investigation, gave me a phone call, and said, ‘Hey, look, unfortunately, it looks like there’s no evidence that shows that what your daughter saying took place’.

“We’re going to have to give her a day of suspension, and you know, so then that I asked the principal, I said, ‘well if the police are telling me that he did do these things, he admitted to them, and that I have the right to press charges, you’re telling me this didn’t happen? And she said, ‘well, unfortunately, what the law does has nothing to do to do with CMS, so, unfortunately, we have nothing else that we can do about this.’”

“They are making her feel like she is being punished for coming forward,” she added.

The allegations come amid allegations from a number of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools about mishandling of rape and sexual assault allegations.

The Independent has reached out to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for comment.