Opinion ID: 78637
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First Complaint Against Hoever The K.F. Incident.

Text: K.F. was an eleventh-grade student in Hoever's math class. In October 2004, she filed a complaint with Blanche Ely about three incidents occurring in Hoever's classroom. According to her written complaint, during the first week of school K.F. visited Hoever's classroom to ask for assistance with homework. During their meeting, Hoever made inappropriate comments to her, telling her she was beautiful, sexy, had a flat stomach, and a beautiful smile, and then gave her his phone number. K.F. told another student, Cassandra, about Hoever's conduct the day after the incident. The second incident occurred a few weeks later when Hoever asked K.F. to remain after class. While alone with K.F. in his classroom, Hoever told her that he loved her, wanted to do business with her, and wanted her to be his girlfriend because she needed someone special to take care of her. When K.F. said she had to go to lunch, Hoever approached her, lifted up her shirt, and commented on her flat stomach and her sexy physique. K.F. told her cousin about Hoever's advances, and the cousin in turn told K.F.'s legal guardians. Her cousin gave her a tape recorder to secretly record Hoever's comments but her attempt was unsuccessful. Finally, in late October, K.F. alleged that she approached Hoever about her D grade in his class, and Hoever told her that she couldn't have a good grade because she did not want to do business. That day, K.F. reported all of Hoever's alleged sexual advances to Principal Scavella. Principal Scavella responded by conducting an informal on-site investigation of the alleged misconduct and requested written statements from K.F. and Hoever. In his written statement, Hoever admitted that on one occasion K.F. had asked him to help find her a sponsor for her modeling career, and he had stated that she was tall, slim, and sexually appealing for the job, but that finding her a sponsor was strictly business. Hoever also stated that he had removed K.F. from his class earlier that day for being disruptive and that K.F. had threatened to go to Scavella on numerous prior occasions, saying You don't know what I can do. [2] Scavella then contacted the School Board's Special Investigative Unit (SIU) and requested a formal investigation through the filing of a Personal Investigation Request, which classified the incident as sexual harassment. The following day, SIU Executive Director Dr. Melita assigned the investigation to Officer Wollschlager. The School Board also provided Hoever with notice of the formal SIU investigation and directed him not to engage the complainant . . . in any conversation regarding the matter under investigation; placed him on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation; and banned him from returning to the high school premises. Investigator Wollschlager interviewed K.F. and obtained her sworn taped testimony about the incident, which largely tracked her prior statements except for the inclusion of an additional incident in which Hoever told her if she did business with him then she would not ever have to work hard and could have a B grade in his class. In his taped sworn statement, Hoever stated that K.F. was a poor student with behavioral problems who had threatened to go to Scavella on several occasions if she did not get a good grade in his class. He also denied ever commenting to K.F. that he wanted to take care of her, do business, or that he picked up her shirt and commented on her stomach. Wollschlager also met with two other students who both stated that they had not seen K.F. and Hoever ever speaking after class. Wollschlager did not interview K.F.'s friend Cassandra, her cousin, or her guardians, the only individuals who allegedly knew of the incidents, because he determined that they had no first-hand knowledge of the events and could only report what K.F. told them. A senior staff member at SIU reviewed the Wollschlager report that the evidence was inconclusive as to whether any sexual misconduct occurred, and the report was sent to the Professional Standards Committee, of which Melita was a member, for a probable cause or no probable cause finding. The Committee recommended that no probable cause existed for additional disciplinary action against Hoever due to the inconclusive results of the investigation and the fact that the incident was 1 on 1  no video  no eyewitnesses. Pursuant to school policy, Hoever returned to teach at Blanche Ely for the second semester of the 2004-2005 school year.