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IPS administrators charged with failing to report sex allegations; one wanted police ‘to stay out of it’

INDIANPOLIS (WISH) — Court documents indicate an Indianapolis Public Schools administrator withheld information from authorities about a school counselor’s alleged sexual relationship with a student.

IPS Human Resources Director Dr. Lela ‘Tina’ Hester wrote in a February 18 email that police should “stay out” while the district investigated the matter internally “from an HR perspective,” according to court documents released Wednesday.

Those documents were made public on the same day that prosecutors filed charges against Hester and Shalon Dabney, an IPS case worker, for failing to make a timely report to authorities about the allegations.

The former counselor, Shana Taylor, who is accused of having a sexual relationship with the 17-year old student, has pleaded not guilty to the child seduction charges against her and is awaiting trial.

School administrators at the Longfellow Alternative School first became aware of allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship between the student and Taylor on February 17 when the boy’s mother showed up at the school with text messages and photos between her son and Taylor, one of which showed Taylor in a state of nudity, according to court records.

But prosecutors say district officials waited until February 23 – six days later – to inform the Department of Child Services and police of the allegations.

That’s a violation of state and the district’s own policies.

“We believe these two individuals were most in control of the information that had been gathered regarding the allegations against the counselor – were in a position to report it and failed to do so in a timely manner,” Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry told I-Team 8 in an interview Wednesday. “Clearly it violated the reporting requirement and that was key piece of the evidence set forth in the probable cause that led to our decision of who was appropriate to charge in this matter.”

Curry said no other administrators would likely be charged.

That came as a relief to Mark Cosand, the former principal at Longfellow Alternative School, who said that all administrators played a part and should have filed a report sooner.

“So really every one in that room that first heard this should have filed a report. Everyone that was contacted that evening should have filed a report. As soon as I found out that Thursday I should have a filed a report,” Mark Cosand said during an exclusive interview with I-Team 8.

Cosand, who resigned from his role as principal last month due to medical reasons, said he learned a valuable lesson from the experience.

“The teachable moment is call DCS,” he said.

According to court documents, Assistant Principal William Jensen was the first to be informed of the allegations on February 17. The documents state that he called IPS’s central office and spoke to supervisor Deb Lesser, who told him call Human Resources. It was Dr. Hester who informed Jensen not to inform police, the documents state.

Jensen, who became ill that night, called Cosand to come in on February 18. Cosand, who had been on medical leave, returned to the school the morning of February 18 and met Taylor in the parking lot – informing her to report to the district’s human resource office.

It wasn’t until February 22, Cosand said, that Dabney told him to set up an interview with the family and IPS officials and call DCS.

“It was like ‘oh,’ nobody has done that already,” Cosand told I-Team 8’s Bennett Haeberle.

Cosand said he had to wait until the following morning, February 23, before he had access to the allegations and information on his school computer.

“I think the big take away is that it needs to be reported,” Cosand said. “No matter the weight of the rumor, it needs to be reported.”

Neither Hester or Dabney returned repeated email messages seeking comment.

The district says they remain employees with IPS.

District officials would not comment on the status of other administrators like Lesser or Jensen.

Last month, IPS superintendent Lewis Ferebee held a news conference, saying he was disturbed the reporting of the allegations didn’t happen in a timely manner.

Tuesday, Ferebee released another statement, saying:

We are grateful for the thoroughness and professionalism of the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office in this matter. IPS will tolerate nothing less than the safest and most secure learning environment possible for our students, teachers, and support personnel. Today’s announcement by the Prosecutor’s Office in no way undermines or diminishes the progress IPS continues to make every day in our schools, and I appreciate all the support we continue to receive from parents and the IPS family.”

Investigators charged Shana Taylor with multiple child seduction charges for inappropriate sexual relationships with two students.

Online records show she was released from jail on bond on April 6. Her jury trial is set for May.

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