Deaf school student arrested

• By SONIA SMITH
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 18, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A 16-year-old male student of the Louisiana School for the Deaf was booked on a count of aggravated rape on Friday in the September rape of a 6-year-old girl.

The alleged rape occurred on a bus chartered by the Louisiana School for the Deaf that was taking students home to north Louisiana on Sept. 26, said Mark Dennis, a spokesman for State Police Troop F.

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said Friday the department will continue to cooperate with authorities.

“This was a tragic event — one that has resulted in triggering a great deal of heartache and unrest,” Pastorek said in a statement. “The department has responded in the best way we can to limit the potential for similar events, but the hardest part for us is the recognition that both of these young people will continue to suffer the consequences of this incident.”

News of that sexual assault, combined with other allegations of misconduct, safety concerns and the release of a report commissioned by the state Department of Education, prompted Pastorek to temporarily close the school Oct. 8.

On Tuesday, Pastorek announced that the school could reopen for some of the school’s 193 students by Nov. 3, at the earliest.

Investigators determined that the teen raped the girl while the bus was traveling through Franklin Parish, Dennis said. The 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office is handling the case.

The student, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, was booked at the Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Office on a count of aggravated rape, Dennis said. The teen is being held at a juvenile detention facility, pending a hearing in front of a judge within 72 hours of his arrest.

Pastorek has said that the reported assault began on the back seat of the bus and continued when the boy locked himself in the bus restroom with the girl. Dennis declined to comment on where the assault took place.

A chaperone, who was a residential adviser at the school for one year, ignored or did not understand another student’s attempt to tell her about the rape while it was happening, Pastorek said.

After the incident, Pastorek fired the chaperone, who did not know sign language when she was hired, he has said.

Dennis declined to say whether charges would be sought against the chaperone, citing an ongoing investigation.

The 16-year-old boy is one of 14 students the school has flagged as having behavioral issues that make them a higher risk to themselves or others, Pastorek has said.