NYS AG blames Babylon school administrators for decades of teacher sexual misconduct

The Babylon school district failed for decades to act on sexual harassment allegations against teachers, creating an environment in which "educator misconduct proliferated with impunity," according to a five-year investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James.

The findings — detailed in a letter James' office drafted to the Babylon community and released exclusively to Newsday — allege that administrators so regularly ignored complaints that "generations of parents and students resorted to a whisper network of warnings about certain educators."

Facing inaction on the district level, parents removed children from those classrooms, attorney general investigators said, while "students tried to avoid those educators and saw potential sexual harassment as an uncomfortable condition of their education."

"Educator misconduct was normalized for both staff and students," the attorney general’s investigation determined in finding that the Babylon district did not comply with state and federal laws that prohibit harassment and discrimination and mandate an adequate response to complaints.

 The investigation effectively affirms the stories told by multiple women during an emotional, hourslong school board meeting in November 2021 — a turning point that sparked a public recko ning and spawned the state probe.

The former students and parents lined up in the Babylon auditorium and accused school administrators and board members of failing to protect students from sexual misconduct and grooming behavior by Babylon educators spanning decades.

Brittany Rohl, the first woman to come forward with an allegation of educator misconduct in the leadup to the 2021 board meeting, said Monday the attorney general’s findings corroborated so many of the experiences shared at that meeting.

"After being let down by the institutions for so many years, I kind of can’t believe it," said Rohl, 33, of Pittsburgh. She had accused a former Babylon teacher of grooming her for a relationship that turned sexual shortly after her 18th birthday.

"I'm a little bit in shock at how that kind of nails everything that we’ve been talking about."

Another Babylon alumna, Jaycee Angello Slawson, said the attorney general's description felt "validating."

"It really reaffirms exactly what we all knew as a student body, like everything they described there was to a T," said Angello Slawson, 34, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The reference to "whisper network" particularly struck her. "That part is so unbelievably true," said the woman, whose mother had spoken on her behalf at the 2021 board meeting. 

The attorney general's letter said the women and their parents who spoke at the public board meeting "were emboldened to share their experiences in the hope of spurring the district to action, but were met instead with a response they described as dismissive, discouraging, and hostile."

Rohl said she flew from Florida to attend after the district told her she could not speak virtually.

In a statement, Babylon superintendent Carisa Manza said the district "has condemned and will continue to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the behavior and culture of permissiveness and predation that former students brought forward in 2021."

"That conduct is despicable, and it has no place in any school," she added.

Manza said administrators have spent the past five years "establishing a new culture that puts the safety of our students first," through measures such as revising its adult-student fraternization policy, partnering with the Crime Victims Center on a training program for students and staff and creating a Citizen's Advisory Committee that focuses on school climate.

She said the district also hired an "external monitor" to ensure compliance with state and federal laws that oversee harassment complaints. 

  AG: Women told truth

The attorney general’s office gave a reporter the letter, signed by First Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux, after two Babylon alumni complained to Newsday about the investigation remaining unresolved after nearly five years.

In a statement, James said, "Five years ago, alumni stood before the Babylon school board and told the truth. My office heard them, and we took their courage seriously."

James said investigators "interviewed nearly 100 people, reviewed thousands of pages of records, and examined the conduct of more than a dozen educators and administrators spanning several decades, culminating in more than 100 pages of findings."

She said her office presented their investigative findings to the Babylon district "well over a year ago." Her office then began negotiations on a deal intended to reform Babylon’s policies governing staff-student relationships and the investigating of complaints. Her office also is seeking formal monitoring of the district’s performance.

Those talks have led to policy reforms, including ones the attorney general's office characterized as "ensuring appropriate interactions and relationships between adults and students." Negotiations also led Babylon to hire an executive director of human resources to oversee the investigation of complaints, according to the attorney general's office.

But no deal has been reached. "The District must commit to implement other critical reforms, sustain the new practices and procedures, and comply with OAG monitoring as those reforms take effect," the attorney general letter said. A spokesperson declined to specify outstanding issues, citing negotiations.

James said she blamed Babylon for the year-plus negotiating delay to close the investigation.

"Instead of meaningfully negotiating, the district has slow-walked the process at every step and questioned the need for reforms we believe to be necessary given our findings," she said in a statement. 

Manza took issue with the Attorney General's characterization, saying it "perplexed" her.

"At every step, we have worked collaboratively with the Attorney General’s office to update our policies, protections, and practices to ensure student safety, often going above and beyond what that office has requested," she said.

Manza noted that it's been "nearly five years" since the district provided the attorney general's investigators with investigative materials, and "have yet to see a final report on her office's findings.

"Instead of issuing that report or bringing its claims in a court of law where the district would have a full opportunity to respond, the Attorney General’s office has chosen to release limited findings to the news media and not to the district directly," she said. "We would welcome the release of the final report, as the district has been requesting, so that the district can identify any other areas in which we can further strengthen our student and staff protections."

The attorney general’s office said it presented its final offer to Babylon this month. A spokesperson declined to specify the potential ramifications if no deal is reached. The attorney general could file a lawsuit and seek a judge's order to compel the district to implement the office's recommended reforms.

The letter said the attorney general plans to release its more than 100-page report by the end of 2026.

James, a Democrat who has served as Attorney General since 2019, is up for reelection next week.

Six teachers surrendered licenses

In the five years since the board meeting, six former teachers surrendered their state educator licenses, according to state records. Citing privacy laws, the state Education Department declined to say what compelled those former teachers to hand over their licenses. The surrender agreements do not state a reason. 

One of those teachers, Timothy Harrison, was among a handful the school district placed on paid leave around the November 2021 board meeting.

Suffolk police arrested Harrison in March 2022 on charges of raping a student. He pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child in September 2023 for having sex with a 15-year-old student in 2013.

Prosecutors alleged he also had sex with an 18-year-old student in 2012 that some at the school knew about. Harrison did not face charges for that allegation because the student was above the age of consent.

Harrison, who spent nearly two years on paid leave until his guilty plea, was sentenced to three years’ probation. His attorney, Kevin Keating, did not return a message seeking comment.

"By not holding individual educators accountable and failing to broadly communicate zero tolerance for educator misconduct, the district created a heightened risk that those educators would continue to engage in misconduct — which they did," James' letter stated. 

Investigators noted how former students who experienced misconduct "felt deep and lasting anxiety, confusion, shame, and emotional distress," while also losing trust in adults and sometimes quitting sports they loved or withdrawing from their academics.

"These former students explained that they not only felt betrayed by the educator who had crossed boundaries with them, but also by other educators and district leadership who seemed to disregard or tolerate this widespread problem," the letter said.

Rohl said she felt betrayed by school district leadership.

"I hope that everyone who was complicit really reflects on their role because there's no denying it now," Rohl said. "There wasn't any doubt in my mind ever, especially since 2021, but now the investigation findings add further weight to it."