Loyalsock Township Middle School
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – A Pennsylvania school district could be headed to trial to defend itself against claims it knew a female middle school basketball coach was sexually abusing girls.
Williamsport federal judge Matthew Brann ruled Aug. 26 that jurors could be convinced that higher-ups at Loyalsock Township School District were aware Kelli Vassallo was preying on students. Vassallo pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2018 and was sentenced to two years in prison.
A 2021 lawsuit brought by a Jane Doe against the district says former superintendent Robert Grantier and former high school principal Matthew Reitz knew of allegations made by another girl.
Employee Christina Herman had sounded the alarm after that girl’s mother showed concerns about the attention Vassallo was giving her daughter, prompting a State Police investigation.
“While this Court has previously observed that there must be ‘more than an awareness of a mere possibility of the harassment,’ that has occurred here,” Brann wrote in rejecting the district’s motion for summary judgment.
“Through Herman’s disclosure, ‘appropriate persons’ in the LTSD became aware of serious allegations regarding a sexual relationship between Vassallo and L.F., purportedly based on ‘first-hand knowledge and information.’”
The investigating trooper acknowledged her final report would not have been shared with LTSD unless the victim’s mother or district attorney decided to do so. Reitz testified he heard the investigation “was unfounded” and he did not inform any members of the Board of Education about the allegations in 2010.
Vassallo was also getting close to the plaintiff Jane Doe. It started with texting, then progressed to spending time together at Vassallo’s house, where L.F. was apparently living, Brann wrote.
At a friend’s house, Vassallo hugged and held Doe’s hand. At Vassallo’s house one day, Vassallo told Doe about her feelings and kissed her. Sexual abuse occurred a week later and continued at least three times a week while Doe was in eighth grade.
Vassallo stopped when Doe entered high school. A friend told Doe the next school year that Doe had been raped and not in a relationship, leading Doe to disclose the abuse to a teacher. That led to a criminal investigation and Vassallo’s guilty plea.
Brann had to decide if the apparently failed first investigation negated any knowledge of misconduct. Reitz and Herman had “mixed explanations” as to what they knew about the first investigation, Brann wrote, and a reasonable juror could conclude appropriate persons in the district had knowledge of Vassallo’s abuse of L.F.
Jurors could also conclude LTSD showed deliberate indifference, he said, but dismissed a negligence per se claim regarding the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law.
