Two senior administrators at the Los Angeles school district were removed from their positions for failing to investigate allegations of an employee’s sexual misconduct and then transferring him to another school, where he molested two other teenage students.
The two district officials were severely criticized for allowing former Assistant Principal Stephen Rooney to return to school after he had faced accusations of sexual contact with a student. After he was transferred to a Watts middle school, he molested two other students.
Rooney is currently held on a $1-million bail, while Supt. Carol Truscott and Scott Braxton, who worked for her, have been assigned to the central office to help completing the district’s investigation, Senior Deputy Supt. Ramon Cortines said Tuesday, according to The Mercury News.
Rooney was first arrested at the beginning of last year, after threatening the stepfather of a former student with a gun. He was then reassigned by district officials to a job where he would have no contact with students until the case was solved. During investigations, police discovered that Rooney had had a long-term sexual relationship with a student who was 15 at the time. Police informed the district about the findings, but they later concluded they did not have sufficient evidence to charge Rooney, as the alleged victim, who had since turned 18, refused to testify against him.
Rooney, who is currently jailed, claims some of the sexual intercourses were consensual, while some were only made up by the accusers.