With lurid headlines focusing on the way the Bayonne School district handled a teacher-student relationship, several council members are seeking to determine what has been done to keep it from happening again.
An in cinerary and perhaps not completely accurate story in the New York Times highlighted on a lawsuit filed against the Bayonne School District as the result of a guidance counselor pleading guilty last year to having had a sexual liaison with a high school student.
The suit, which the school district is expected to settle, was filed by the family of Christopher Castlegrande, claimed the district had not done enough to prevent Diane Cherchio West – a guidance counselor with a history of such problems in the school district – from repeating her activities.
West was reassigned to the guidance department after she allegedly “kissed and fondled” and 13-year-old eighth-grade student who she later married.
The suit against the Bayonne School District arises from an affair with 15-year-old Christopher Castlegrande in 2000 when he was a student at the high school. Family members filed charges against West in 2001 to which she eventually plead guilty to sexual assault in 2005.
Praised by fellow workers as well as many parents who knew of her affair with young Castlegrande prior to the charges being filed, West was sentenced to probation and was allowed to retire with full pension benefits and avoided being listed as a sexual offender.
“Diane was the best guidance counselor Bayonne High ever had,” one parent said, claiming that the West-Castlegrande relationship was hardly a secret even to the general public. School officials declined comment because of litigation, although published reports claim that school district will likely settle the case out of court.
What is being done to stop abuse in the future?
While some parents have questioned the accuracy of The New York Times story, local officials are seeking answers as to what the school district has done to prevent other students from suffering similar problems since. First Ward Councilman Ted Connolly said he has asked for a meeting with Mayor Joseph Doria and school administrators in order to review what policies are in place to prevent future abuses.
“I’m not demanding answers, I looking to see what we have in place and what we can do,” said Connolly, who also serves as president of the Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center. “I really believe that Superintendent Dr. Patricia McGeehan is very competent. I’ve asked the mayor to put together a meeting to see what we have in place. I know that a lot of things have been done since 1980 to assure the safety of our children.”
Connolly said as president of the HCCA, he works as a member of the community to help that organization educate people and to keep kids from being abused.
Connolly admitted that he was alarmed at what he read The New York Times story and those stories that followed it, and that leaders in the community needed to assure the public that there are systems in place to prevent similar problems in the future.
“I’m confident when I sit down with everyone that I will learn that a system is place that will prevent things like this from happening again,” he said.
A strict policy is needed
Councilman Anthony Chiappone has also contacted Doria in regards to this situation and the adverse impact on the Board of Education’s budget since reports suggest the school district is about to come to a settlement on the lawsuit.
Chiappone has asked the mayor to convene a special meeting of the Board of School estimate with the intention of “forming a specific and stringent policy” regard to teacher-student relationships.
“I realize that you may consider this to be a Board of Education board policy,” Chiappone wrote in a letter to the mayor, “not in the jurisdiction of the Board of School Estimate which we as elected officials are a part of, however, I would argue that situations like this where large settlements are made as a result, adversely impact the budget of the Bayonne School system and we as elected officials on this budgetary board have an obligation to do what we can to prevent situations like this from happening again.”
Chiappone said a stringent policy would “serve to both discourage this type of teacher-student behavior as well as to send a message to the public that we as responsible board members will be addressing this serious issue for the protection of our children as well as to maintain the integrity of our educational system.”
Such a policy, Chiappone said, should include the forfeiting of pension benefits if an individual is found guilty of molesting a student.
“This similar to legislation I passed in the state about holding the churches accountable for the actions of their priests,” Chiappone said.
Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court upheld a law authored by Chiappone when assemblyman requiring churches liable for failing to take action against priests who sexually abuse children.