Final report for Hidden Valley Elementary School sexual abuse scandal to be released in February

Wednesday, 20 December 2023 15:52

The report provides a review with recommendations, of whether the Department’s Safer Schools Action Plan is sufficient to avoid a recurrence of the communication failure to notify parents, of these allegations in a timely manner.

The Hidden Valley Elementary School sexual abuse scandal final report is to be released in February.

Yukon Ombudsman, Jason Pedlar has released a draft of his second report on the sexualized abuse matter at the Elementary School to Government of Yukon’s Department of Education on Tuesday.

In September, an independent investigation into the Yukon government’s poor handling of sexual abuse complaints at Hidden Valley Elementary School in 2019 which revealed a culture of self-preservation, poor communication and disorganization in the Education Department was released.

According to the report, the parent felt it was unfair that it took 19 months for the department to inform them, and other parents, about allegations of the sexualized abuse of a student by an educational assistant at the school.

The 36-page report authored by Jason Pedlar and investigator Rick Smith said the Education Department acted in self-interest when it chose not to inform parents that a staff member was being investigated for sexualized abuse of a student in November 2019.

As per the Yukon Ombudsman Tuesday release, this second and final report, completes the Ombudsman’s investigation of a complaint that the department’s inordinate delay to inform HVES parents about the sexualized abuse of a student was unfair. The release also said the first report substantiated the communications failure, and the second report reviews the Safer Schools Action Plan and evaluates whether it addresses the unfairness identified.

The report is to be released in February, because the ombudsman is required to provide the Department of Education with the opportunity to respond by January 31, 2024 before it’s made available to the public.

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