On the witness stand in Courtroom 1000 of the federal district court in Alexandria on Tuesday, August “Aggie” Frattali, the retired principal of Rachel Carson Middle School, walked through the expectations of the U.S. Education Department for school officials nationwide to protect students from sexual harassment and bullying. But over about six hours of testimony, Fratalli fumbled through clunky answers about what his assistant principals, teachers, and staff did to protect a 12-year-old girl who told them many times that she was tormented by classmates in her seventh grade with slurs of “slut,” “bitch” and “whore,” eventually leading to her alleged rape.
Now 24 years old, the former Fairfax County Public Schools student, known as B.R., or “Kate,” is suing Frattali, eight other current and former staff members, and the 12-member Fairfax County School Board for violating her legal right to a safe learning environment, free of sexual harassment, bullying, and sexual violence. In the courtroom for the trial, the current and former staff members sat, feet from the witness box, listening intently to Fratalli’s testimony, and one defendant, former assistant principal Tamara Ballou, biting her nails nervously throughout the day.
At one point, in the second day of the jury trial, Frattali pulled his spectacles up to his eyes to review the first complaint that the girl had written in the fall of 2011, alleging that a classmate “said I gave him oral sex, which is completely false, and said I sent naked pictures, which I didn’t.” On the first day of the trial, the girl’s mother, Mrs. R, said these rumors spread after her daughter went on her first date ever, going to a pumpkin patch with a boy and his family. After that date, she said, her fun-loving girl, who played tennis and the piano, was never the same.
Andrew Brenner, a lawyer for “Kate” at the law firm of Boies Schiller Flexner, asked Frattali if the boy was asked about the allegation of the rumors claimed to be false.
Frattali responded he didn’t know. An assistant principal, Sybil Terry, still at the school, spoke to the boy and took his statement. “I wasn’t there,” Fratalli said. Terry’s conclusion about the girl’s complaint: “unverified.”
Incident after incident, observers in the gallery noted, a painful portrait emerged of a principal who passed the buck to administrators and staff who dismissed the girl’s complaints time and time again as “unverified” without apparently completing thorough investigations.
In the middle of the gallery, Debra Tisler, a former Fairfax County Public Schools special education teacher, shook her head in disappointment, listening to Frattali. Later, she said, “Today, the blinds were opened on the pervasive rape culture that Fairfax County Public Schools allows to perpetuate.”
After her first complaint, “Kate” later told administrators that an eighth-grade boy, C.K., had left a vulgar message on her voicemail, threatening her: “I’m going to stick my big black dick in your ass. Call me, bitch.”
Did Frattali investigate the complaint, Brenner asked? The retired principal responded: “I would be more comfortable if that question is provided to the assistant principal,” again Sybil Terry.
Fratalli read from a statement in which an eighth-grade boy, C.K., said that other students taunted “Kate,” calling her “a whore and a slut.” What was done to investigate that claim? Frattali again invoked Terry’s name, “She needs to be questioned about that.”
How about C.K. acknowledging that a boy had spread a claim that “Kate” “gave him a hand job and a blow job”? Was the account corroborated? “I was not there,” Frattali responded. Terry again concluded the claim was “not verified,” the principal said.
Finally, her lawyer showed, after months of seeking redress, “Kate” sent an email directly to Fratalli, the subject line: “Bullying at RCMS,” or Rachel Carson Middle School. She politely argued that the school had a “culture of bullying” against students, including Asian, Muslim, and Black students, at Rachel Carson Middle School and recommended cultural changes to promote kindness. She warned that students didn’t report the incidents for fear of being bullied further as a “snitch.”
“As you know,” the 12-year-old “Kate” began, “I’ve been severely bullied this year.”
She continued, “I never expected the transition to middle school to be easy, but I never expected it to be heart-wrenching.” She outlined the bullying she’d experienced, specifically citing “physical harassment.”
Her lawyer asked Fratalli: so the student reported allegations of physical harassment?
The former principal’s response: “No.”
The lawyer: “This doesn’t count?”
The former principal: “She never did report physical harassment to the staff. She didn’t report it. She’s saying it here.”
He continued: “She never reported an incident where she was physically harassed.”
Did he ever write back to the young girl?
“No,” he answered, reading through a thread of back-and-forth emails between administrators and staff, none of them replying to the 12-year-old.
Sitting in the first row behind the jurors, Patricia Adams, a University of Georgia student just two years younger than the alleged victim, shook her head in disbelief. The survivor of a sexual assault during her freshman year of college, she said, “What a brave 12-year-old girl. She spoke up with such courage. The adults at the school failed her.’
Soon after “Kate” wrote the email to her principal, Mrs. R testified that she learned her daughter had been allegedly raped by her classmate, C.K. Mrs. R pulled her daughter from school so that she got “homebound” instruction over the next year until finally leaving Fairfax County Public Schools for good in eighth grade, while the alleged perpetrators against her were able to stay in school.
In cross-examination by the school district’s hired attorney, Ryan Bates, a lawyer at Hunton Andrews Kurth, Fratalli said he was drawn to be an educator because he was “not a great kid” growing up and instructed staff to “never judge a child in middle school.”
Tisler, an advocate for children with disabilities and special education needs, said, “This rape culture was led by a principal who identifies as a previous ‘bad boy.’ He had such a bias against the victim, he exiles her for being a ‘snitch” about the rape culture that he allowed. He deprived her of the education that a young child needs to survive while allowing the alleged perpetrators to enjoy their educational opportunities.”
In the gallery, across the aisle from Tisler, an outside attorney for the school district, Michael York, sat another day, observing the trial, retained to discredit the victim, according to people familiar with his work. According to his contract with Fairfax County Public Schools, the school district pays him $545 per hour. Day two of the trial ran another six-and-a-half hours, from 10:30 a.m. until about 5 p.m., or about $3,542 for a second day of work by just York.
York has earned criticism from student advocates, including Tisler. He is president-elect of the Virginia State Bar Association, which oversees the evaluation of judges for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from the federal district court in Alexandria. Moreover, the organization trains lawyers in “trauma-informed lawyering,” publishing an article last year headlined “Trauma-Informed Representation – Practicing with Empathy.”
“It’s a serious conflict of interest that Michael York is acting as the Fixer for Fairfax County Public Schools, running damage control for the school district and actively discrediting a young sexual assault victim,” said Tisler, eyeing York, as he sat behind the defense team and the defendants.
Reached in the courtroom, York refused to comment, refusing even a handshake. An official from the Virginia State Bar Association initially declined to comment.
The trial is scheduled for 20 trial days or four weeks. Proceedings are held daily in Courtroom 1000 from 9-10 a.m. until 4-5 p.m., with one-hour lunch breaks at about 1 p.m.
“Kate” is expected to testify on Thursday. Tisler and Adams said they plan to return to the courtroom regularly to express support for the alleged victim, as she faces attacks from school district attorneys, including York.
Asra Q. Nomani is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and a contributor to the Fairfax Times. She can be reached at asra@asranomani.com.
Former Teacher: Retired principal's testimony reveals a 'rape culture' in Fairfax County schools - Fairfaxtimes.com
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