Parents Rap Handling Of Harassment Complaint

A South Hill couple is claiming Spokane School District 81 mishandled their 15-year-old daughter’s complaint that she was sexually harassed last April.

Dean and Susan Haskin say they’re upset it has taken the district six months to resolve the situation, which began last spring when a “business card” with daughter Deana’s full name and phone number was distributed at Ferris High School.

The Haskins still have a copy of the card, which includes an offer of a sexual act, along with the message, “She hates the word no!!” It also shows a computer-generated color picture of the lower half of a woman’s naked body.

The cards were passed out last April by Ferris students, two of whom later admitted to administrators they made the cards on a computer.

Deana Haskin said she tried to laugh it off.

“I thought, ‘Maybe it’s not that bad,”’ she said.

But by third period, nearly everyone she knew had approached her to show her a copy of the card, she said. Stacks of the cards appeared on cafeteria tables and were scattered around on school floors.

“I sat there in class and bawled,” she said. “It was really bad.”

The Haskins said late-night phone calls started soon after the cards were passed out. They installed a caller-identification device and saw the calls were coming from as far as Deer Park and Cheney.

Obscene calls continued through most of the summer, they said.

The day after the cards appeared, Deana Haskin approached Robert Crabb, a Ferris assistant principal designated to handle harassment complaints.

The following week, Crabb told her the two boys who had made the cards had been warned and the school didn’t plan to take further action, Haskin said.

Crabb declined to comment, citing school privacy rules.

The Haskins appealed the decision in May to District 81 Superintendent Gary Livingston, who referred it to district equal opportunity officer Ivan Bush.

“I agreed with (the Haskins) that the investigation should be reopened,” said Bush. “The complainants made some valid points. They indicated a number of folks who hadn’t been interviewed.”

He said as a result of the second investigation, which took four months, two boys admitted to making the cards.

“An act of this sort definitely creates a hostile learning environment,” Bush said. “And I can tell you, punishment was doled out.”

In September, the boys were each told to serve 10 hours of community service and write a letter of apology. But Haskin said she didn’t receive the letters until this past Monday, after The Spokesman-Review asked Ferris administrators about the letters.

According to Ferris Principal Jon Bentz, one boy chose to serve the 10 hours, while another chose a five-day suspension in lieu of community service. Both finished their service this fall, Bentz said.

Bentz said the letters had also been written, but he was under the impression that Deana Haskin had said she did not want to see them.

He gave the letters to Deana on Monday.

“They have been delivered to Deana by myself personally,” he said in a phone message Wednesday. “Mr. Crabb and I were under the distinct impression that she didn’t want to see them.”

The Haskins say they’ve wanted to see the letters all along.

“That was our real sticking point,” Dean Haskin said Wednesday. “And the letters, when we got them, were really not what Deana expected. They were three or four sentences, and sounded like a forced apology.”

Bush said he thought the letters had already been sent.

“If they haven’t received a letter of apology, we should’ve taken care of that,” said Bush. “That should have happened a while ago.”

Bush added it is the school, not the district, that is responsible for enforcing the discipline.

The April incident occurred just as the district was putting the finishing touches on an updated harassment policy.

The policy, put into effect July 23, offers a clearer explanation of what harassment is and a step-by-step guide for filing a complaint.

“We take harassment extremely seriously,” said Bush. “We want the complainant to feel whole about the process.”

Bush said he’s satisfied with how the district handled the case, attributing the length of the investigation to the fact it happened over summer vacation.

But the Haskins say they’re disappointed the district didn’t follow its own stringent guidelines.

“By this inaction, they’re saying, ‘OK, boys, do it again,”’ said Dean Haskin. “It’s just perpetuating that boys-will-be-boys mentality.”

The episode has been life-altering for Deana, Haskin said.

“My daughter’s different since this happened,” he added. “She’s not as joyful, as bubbly a person.”

Deana Haskin said six months later, she still hears whispers of “That’s the girl with the cards,” in the school hallways. She said she didn’t talk for a long time after the incident.

“I’m really cautious now about what I say and do,” she said. “My reputation is shot until I’m out of high school.”

, DataTimes