More than a year after a high school employee was arrested and charged with raping students, the V.I. Education Department has launched an anonymous helpline for reporting “concerns of student safety or Department misconduct securely and confidentially,” according to a news release.
“It is a new day at the VIDE, where we are holding ourselves to a higher standard of accountability and transparency than ever before,” according to a statement from Dionne Wells-Hedrington.. “We want students, employees, and our community to feel confident to report concerns, such as child abuse, bullying, sexual harassment, campus safety threats, fraud or other wrongdoing without the fear of retribution. A key priority for the Department is to ensure safe and welcoming school environments for students to learn, and the establishment of ComplianceLine is an important part of that commitment.”
Wells-Hedrington was recently nominated by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. to head the department following the abrupt resignation of the then-commissioner, Racquel Berry-Benjamin.
Bruce was arrested under her administration and at the time Berry-Benjamin pledged, through a spokeswoman, to hold an internal investigation to no avail.
The department has yet to hold any administrators accountable for failing to bring a report about former track coach Alfredo Bruce Smith to law enforcement.
Smith, 51, has been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 1, 2021, and is facing 20 criminal charges, including rape and production of child pornography.
Prosecutors say they have evidence indicating that Smith sexually abused dozens of underage boys for at least 13 years, and filmed himself raping students in the school, according to court documents.
The case began when a witness told federal agents about the accusations against Smith in April 2021, according to court records. The witness had previously reported Smith, in 2019, to a school administrator, who did nothing.
Smith had been employed at Charlotte Amalie High School for 15 years and was working as a track coach and hall monitor at the time of his arrest.
Days after Smith’s arrest in September 2021, Education spokeswoman Cynthia Graham said an investigation was ongoing “into allegations of the CAHS administration being made aware of the alleged abuse in 2019. If the investigation reveals that this information is correct, the appropriate action will be taken.”
Title 5 of the V.I. Code specifically lists a number of professionals who are mandated to report child abuse and rape, including any “school teacher or other school personnel.”
Officials failing to do so face a misdemeanor charge “and shall be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both,” according to the law.
Berry-Benjamin said the department was conducting an internal investigation, and then the Human Services Department announced it was taking over the inquiry in November.
The departments have said little about that investigation publicly.
On Sept. 27, more than a year after Smith’s arrest, The Daily News asked again whether anyone had been held accountable for failing to report Smith to law enforcement.
Graham responded in a statement noting the department is committed to providing a safe environment for students and staff.
“After our initial investigation, Government House initiated an audit, and the matter was turned over to the Department of Human Services to contract with an independent consultant to conduct an external review of the Department of Education’s policies, procedures, and practices for safeguarding students against sexual offenses while in VIDE’s charge,” Graham said in responsed to the Sept. 27 inquiry from The Daily News.
“Through the consultant, VIDE has been proactive in conducting an agency-wide survey to gain employee understanding of child abuse reporting, and disseminated the Department’s Policy for Sexual Abuse or Misconduct by Departmental Employees or Contractors Involving Students,” Graham noted in the statement. “Furthermore, the VIDE has procured the services of a third-party anonymous reporting service, which is scheduled to be launched in October. Following the completion of the independent consultant’s review, the findings will be used to assist the VIDE in making informed decisions to hold individuals accountable.”
The anonymous reporting service is now live, and is being operated through ComplianceLine, “an independent company, where students, employees, and the public can report concerns of student safety or Department misconduct securely and confidentially,” according to a department news release issued Oct. 5.
It noted that “the 24-hour service is available seven days a week and is staffed by trained professionals who receive reports by phone, text or online. Users can register complaints in more than 35 categories in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.”
“Reports submitted through ComplianceLine will be sent to the appropriate local agencies for further investigation. Users may choose to remain anonymous and are not required to provide any self-identifying information,” the release stated.
Wells-Hedrington encouraged use of the helpline, while cautioning against using it for other concerns.
“We ask that you only use this important service if there are real concerns of wrongdoing at the Department,” Wells-Hedrington said. “It should not be used as a tool for spiteful actions or retaliation against others for personal reasons. We want to ensure its integrity and our ability to investigate and address legitimate concerns quickly.”
Reports can be filed through ComplianceLine by calling or texting “REPORT” to 800-403-2461 or visiting videcomplianceline.com.
ComplianceLine is not an emergency service and should not be used for events presenting an immediate threat to life or property. Users requiring emergency assistance should call 911.
Smith is currently scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 5, but that date may be delayed after both the prosecution and defense recently agreed the case should be designated as complex.
The prosecution’s evidence “represents over 13 years of alleged illegal conduct producing, among other things, over 3 million kilobytes of Facebook data and 58 million kilobytes of data found on defendant’s cellphone,” according to a brief filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard Potter.
Federal Public Defender Matthew Campbell agreed that the case is complex, and wrote that “discovery exceeds 50 gigabytes of information, and consists of over 70,000 files. Review of the discovery is time-consuming.”
The case against Smith was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, which encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 800-981-3030, or by calling 787-729-6969.
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