High School Girl Suspended After Reporting Sexual Assault. Principal, Asst. Principal Suspended With Pay.

A North Carolina high school principal and assistant principal have been suspended with pay following an investigation which found that a high school student was suspended after she reported being the victim of a sexual assault. After the suspension of Hawthorne Academy High School Principal Diann Weston and assistant principal Nina Adams was announced, the mother of the girl who reported the assault stated, “My daughter wants everyone to know that she thanks them and it makes her feel she has more support. … We never expected to get as much publicity as we did but we want everyone to know that things like this should be heard and not hidden.”

Last week, WBTV reported that the girl, who is a sophomore at Hawthorne Academy High School, was suspended in late October after filing a report claiming she had been sexually assaulted by a classmate in August. WBTV reported on November 2:

She made the report in late August, after sitting through a Title IX class at the start of the school year. The case was referred to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, who investigated. A CMPD spokesman confirmed that a juvenile was charged with sexual battery as a result of the report. But school administrators determined, independently of the police investigation, that the report was unfounded. … As a result, they suspended the female student who reported being sexually assaulted, made her sign a no-contact order, which she says has prevented her from participating in some school activities, and she is being made to attend a CMS class called Sexual Harassment is Preventable.

“I really just thought I had faith in CMS, that they were going to do right by my daughter,” the girl’s mother told WBTV. “So when I got that phone call I was hurt. … They are making her feel like she is being punished for coming forward,”

Attorney Laura Dunn, who represents the Hawthorne Academy student, stated, “CMS had plenty of opportunities to avoid yet another campus sexual assault scandal, but rather than taking meaningful action when issues arose at Myers Park High School, it has waited for another disaster to strike at Hawthorne Academy. … All parents need to stand with their students at this time and demand change so this does not happen to another student ever again.”

On Monday, a second Hawthorne Academy student revealed that after she reported a sexual assault in 2019, she was urged to sign a

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