Who is Brett Miller? Fox Lane principal resigns after covering up special needs students sex pic scandal
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK: A Westchester County high school administrator has resigned after a devastating investigation revealed that he covered up for children who took obscene pictures of special education peers in the restroom. Last March, two of the four teens involved in the disturbing incident at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York, came forward with their confessions. However, despite police involvement, Principal Brett Miller and a number of other Bedford administrators chose to keep their confessions to themselves, according to third-party investigator Kroll.
According to the report made public on Tuesday, December 13, Miller did not punish the two boys. Investigations only turned up the second pair's involvement after reviewing the video. The assistant principal of the school and the coordinator for the Dignity for All Students Act were also aware of the confessions, but none of them punished the boys or informed the authorities that they had identified the offenders.
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The Kroll report claims that a student whistleblower informed school officials of the invasion of privacy. Ten days after the act, the two boys admitted they were responsible. Miller informed police that there was "still no evidence" of who was responsible for the sexual recordings and images despite being aware of the two pupils who confessed. A few weeks later, Miller informed parents at a school board meeting that during student interviews, "nobody cracked," per reports from The US Sun.
The Kroll report found “no one in the administration took charge of the investigation into the reported misconduct and no one took responsibility for ensuring key constituencies were provided timely and accurate information.” “Multiple times during the investigation the information which was provided was incomplete and/or inaccurate which in turn hindered the Superintendent from properly discharging his duties to the Board and the community,” it said.
“The administrative team was more focused on covering themselves through lies, misdirection, and avoidance than they were on the well-being of the students they claim to always put first,” Karen Close, the mother of one of the victimized kids, told CBS News. Close's daughter, Jennifer, attributed the harassment of her brother to the ethos of the school, saying that the harassers thought it was amusing to photograph and post pictures of their vulnerable classmates. “There is an obvious problem with the students in this school district and as the leaders of this school district you need to find a way to break through to these students in a beneficial way,” said Close.
According to reports from Lohud, the Bedford School District is implementing Kroll's recommendation to train school administrators on how to communicate effectively during investigations and is trying to update its parental notification policy. The district will also assess its DASA training, according to Glass, to make sure it adheres to the highest standards. “The release of this report has opened a wound that had not fully healed following an egregious event,” Glass said. “This is about being reliable. This is about being accountable. This is about rebuilding trust all around.”
Miller will continue working for the district through June, though not as principal. However, Bedford Superintendent Robert Glass stated at a school board meeting on Wednesday, December 14 that Miller expects to leave the district earlier if he finds other employment. Director of Pupil Services Edward Escobar, a different employee of the school district who was aware of the confessions, is currently on leave "for the foreseeable future."