Why Has Dr. Ferebee Not Been Fired?

The superintendent of one of the state's largest public school districts stood before reporters on Friday afternoon and unleashed an attack on administration employees of Longfellow Alternative School and other administrative employees of the school district who knew about the allegations of a school counselor, Shana Taylor, having sexual relations with students and exchanging graphic texts and images with them but made no effort to notify DCS or the law enforcement until six days later. Dr. Lewis Ferebee blamed an "incompetent staff" and promised that all involved employees would be appropriately disciplined for failing to comply with a state reporting law and school policy, which required immediate notification of the suspected child abuse.

A spokesperson for the school district quickly cut Dr. Ferebee's press conference short when a reporter focused questioning on what Dr. Ferebee knew and when did he know it. Dr. Ferebee had just outlined at least five persons who knew about Taylor's sexual relationship with students, including the school's principal, assistant principal and the school's director of student services, human resources director and a human resources case worker, none of whom reported Taylor's abuse of students because each believed someone else had taken responsibility for the reporting required by state law. Did it not occur to anyone over the passage of that six day-period why nobody from DCS or law enforcement had contacted the school to investigate the allegations against Taylor? If five IPS employees knew about the allegations, at least three of four times that number became aware of the allegations over the ensuing six-day period before the assistant principal finally reported it to DCS.

The Indianapolis Star learned a short time after the press conference concluded that Dr. Ferebee had learned of the allegations against Taylor the very day a parent had gone to Taylor's school to share evidence and concern that she was having sexual relations with a student. Incredibly, Dr. Ferebee believed he was blameless for the failure of five subordinate employees to comply with the same law under which he also had a reporting duty. The media silence since that bombshell revelation has been deafening. Despite all of the recent attention focused on these very issues after the child abuse allegations against former Park Tudor boys basketball coach Kyle Cox were first made public, members of the Indianapolis media have showed no similar interest in the IPS story. No rapid online response from The Star's yelpers in chief, Matthew Tully or Tim Swarens. Why is that?

Taylor was arrested by police within three days of DCS learning of the allegations against her for child seduction charges. She made her first appearance in court to face formal charges last Friday, the same day Dr. Ferebee addressed his administration's failure to timely report child abuse allegations for the first time nearly a week after state child welfare workers were first alerted and nearly two weeks after IPS officials learned of the allegations. IPS' board had previously scheduled a meeting Friday afternoon at which their plans to redevelop the valuable Coca-Cola property along Mass Avenue were to be discussed. Board members went into executive session on Friday, but beyond a decision made during the board's public meeting to terminate Taylor, not a single board member commented publicly on the gross misconduct of Dr. Ferebee and members of his administration to comply with state law and school policy when contacted by the media. The board's paid spokesperson was tweeting jokingly about MILFS while the story unfolded late last week. Where's the outrage, Indianapolis? Can someone tell me why Dr. Ferebee and others responsible for this debacle haven't been fired already?