KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — The principal of a school has been accused of failing to report the sexual abuse of a student by a teacher, according to the Kannapolis Police Department.
Police said they received a complaint in October regarding Kendra Brown Woods, who is the principal of the Concord Lake STEAM Academy.
The complaint said Kendra Brown Woods failed to report a crime. Woods was charged with one count of failure to report abuse and one count of failure to report crimes against juveniles.
Woods was then arrested and taken to Mecklenburg County jail, according to police.
“That’s kind of why Title IX exists at the federal level, is to prevent schools from looking the other way, from slipping it under the rug,” said Laura Dunn, an attorney who handles Title IX cases.
Dunn told Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe, “Anytime an official has actual knowledge of sexual harassment or abuse and then does not act on that, that’s what we call deliberate indifference under the law.”
Police said 23-year-old Tyler Christian Woods was also arrested in connection with this case. He was a teacher at Concord Lake STEAM Academy. There’s no relation between Tyler and Kendra.
Tyler Christian Woods has been charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a child, one count of disseminating obscenity to a minor, and one count of permitting a minor to assist in obscenity, according to police.
He was previously held at the Cabarrus County jail but has since bonded out.
According to the school’s own website, Kendra wasn’t just the principal, but also the school’s Title IX coordinator.
“That means this person should know the law up and down, and be able to apply it no matter what,” Dunn told Lowe.
Dunn says the U.S. Department of Education and possibly the Dept. of Justice could get involved now.
School board members told Channel 9 on Wednesday: “We are not at liberty to discuss any personnel issues, but rest assured, we are taking all appropriate actions.”
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