12-15-2021
After Babylon High School recently removed a teacher for “disturbing allegations,” multiple women began posting about their experiences while students at the school. These former students claim the school tolerated and/or ignored sexual relationships between teachers and students. The school is located in a small Long Island town with just around 100 students per grade.
At a school board meeting in mid-November, over a dozen former students spoke about sports coaches that touched them inappropriately and teachers that texted students privately, asking them to their homes unsupervised. The predatory nature of the school was apparently so well-known that high school girls warned incoming seventh graders about what teachers to avoid. Some students reported that the inappropriate conduct was so commonplace that it did not occur to them to complain. Other former students say they did complain, but the school “rebuffed or even threatened [them] with punishment.” The school placed five more teachers on leave following the school board meeting.
School officials and school district officials declined to comment to reporters other than to say that they had initiated an investigation into the reports. They also stated that the district “does not tolerate abuse of any kind, takes all allegations very seriously and is committed to acting upon each and every claim” received. A Long Island nonprofit group will begin providing sexual harassment training for district staff and training on reporting responsibilities for school employees. New York State law makes school staff mandatory reporters of inappropriate conduct.