Opinion ID: 2544598
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Estomago's school-level investigation

Text: Donna Estomago was M&omacr;kapu's vice-principal in September 1991, and, at that time, Carol Ching was the school's principal. Late in the afternoon of September 23, 1991, at approximately 4:30 or 5:00 p.m., a military Criminal Investigation Division (CID) investigator, Michael Crecelius, who was also a parent of a M&omacr;kapu student, informed Estomago of T.Y.'s accusation and that CID was referring the matter to the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) for further investigation. According to Estomago, Crecelius informed her of the allegation as a heads-up, rather than as a formal matter, and forewarned her to expect a request from T.Y.'s parents that the girl be removed from Norton's fourth grade class. Estomago informed Ching of T.Y.'s allegation that evening. Also during the evening of September 23, 1991, Estomago telephoned Norton. According to Estomago, it is typical procedure to talk to the staff member involved when something arises. According to Norton, there were usually numerous children in his classroom during recesses when his class was not in session, and, thus, he did not specifically recollect T.Y. being alone with him. Norton confirmed, however, that many of the children hugged him often, usually when he was seated at his desk, and that, as he spoke to a child, his arm would occasionally encircle the child's waist. Unbeknownst to Estomago, the HPD detective assigned to the case had instructed T.Y.'s parents not to speak to school officials until he notified them that they were free to do so. Consequently, when Estomago observed T.Y. and her mother at the school bus stop on the morning of September 24, 1991, approached them, and inquired whether she would be seeing T.Y.'s mother later that morning, the mother shook her head negatively, appearing to Estomago to be confused. Similarly, T.Y.'s parents attended an evening open house in Norton's classroom on September 25, 1991, but said nothing either to Norton or Estomago about their daughter's allegations. On September 26, 1991, Estomago telephoned Crecelius in an effort to discover why she had not been contacted by either T.Y.'s parents or the HPD. After checking with the HPD, Crecelius informed Estomago that the HPD detective assigned to the case had instructed T.Y.'s parents not to speak to anyone about the matter until the detective directed them to do so. Subsequently, on September 27, 1991, T.Y.'s mother requested that her daughter be removed from Norton's classroom. Estomago granted the mother's request, but asked her to meet with Norton and school administrators to discuss T.Y.'s allegations. T.Y.'s mother replied that she first wished to discuss Estomago's request with her husband. On September 30, 1991, as T.Y. was in the process of moving her belongings out of her desk in Norton's classroom, Norton attempted to explain his side of the story to T.Y.'s mother; T.Y.'s mother did not react to Norton. Norton reported the incident to Estomago, but Estomago apparently did not report it to Ching. However, Norton did report to Ching that T.Y. later visited him in his classroom during the lunch recess with a group of other children and had solicited a hug from him; Ching told Norton that T.Y.'s mother should be informed of the visit and appears to have relayed Norton's report to Estomago. Later that evening, Ching returned a telephone call from T.Y.'s mother and informed her of T.Y.'s visit to Norton during recess. October 4, 1991 was Ching's final day as principal and, the following day, Estomago became acting principal until sometime in November, when James Schlosser was appointed M&omacr;kapu's principal. HPD Detective Tejada first contacted the school with respect to T.Y.'s allegations on October 11, 1991; Detective Tejada informed Estomago that he would be interviewing both Norton and T.Y. in connection with his investigation of the matter. The detective cautioned Estomago that Norton should not remain in the classroom pending the criminal investigation. However, surprised that the HPD was investigating the matter and believing T.Y.'s allegations to be false, Estomago surmised that the detective's admonition was based upon caution rather than necessity (insofar as Tejada had not yet investigated the matter), disregarded the detective's suggestion, and did not communicate it to any of her superiors. The following week, on October 18, 1991, Estomago first informed her superiorโthe DOE's Deputy District Superintendent, Jacqueline Heupelโof the HPD's investigation; Heupel instructed Estomago not to discuss the incident further. However, on October 30, 1991, Estomago contacted Deputy Attorney General Russell Suzuki, as well as the DOE's Personnel Director, Sugino, because a school counselor had received a telephone call from a parent regarding T.Y.'s allegations. Yet, when Schlosser became M&omacr;kapu's principal in November, neither Estomago nor anyone else informed him that the HPD was investigating Norton or that T.Y. had accused him of molesting her. Meanwhile, Norton remained teaching, and the DOE granted him tenure on January 22, 1992, while the HPD's investigation was still pending. Indeed, according to Estomago, nothing more happened or was said about the matter from mid-October 1991 until Norton was indicted in mid-February 1992.