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Park City School District court date to be delayed

Ben Lasseter
/
KPCW

Next week’s pretrial conference for criminal charges against the Park City School District is to be rescheduled.

The Park City School District was due in court next Tuesday for a pretrial conference to answer criminal charges that it failed multiple times to report child abuse.

Now, the attorneys in the case have jointly decided to delay that hearing, likely until June. The attorneys said the delay was due to scheduling difficulties not related to the investigation.

The district’s defense attorney, Mark Moffat, said he continues to investigate the claims made against the district. The evidence he’s reviewing is extensive, he said, and includes police reports and case interviews.

In March, the Summit County Attorney’s Office charged the district with three class B misdemeanors for allegedly failing to report to law enforcement two student allegations of rape and one allegation of a district employee inappropriately touching a student.

Summit County Margaret Olson has said there are more than those three cases that were not properly reported to authorities.

Under Utah law, anyone who has reason to believe a child has been abused is required to report that to law enforcement or the Division of Child and Family Services.

In April, Olson and other local law enforcement personnel led a training for school district personnel. It was intended to review the rules about reporting child abuse.

Olson’s office charged the district as a party to the crimes, but the charges do not extend to individual employees who allegedly failed to report the incidents. Olson said she wants adults to feel comfortable coming forward with potential cases of abuse that have not been reported, and not to fear potential liability.

Moffat said the district has always had the goal of ensuring a safe environment for kids and that incidents are reported appropriately when the district becomes aware of them. He has said the district routinely reports such cases properly.

Alexander joined KPCW in 2021 after two years reporting on Summit County for The Park Record. While there, he won many awards for covering issues ranging from school curriculum to East Side legacy agriculture operations to land-use disputes. He arrived in Utah by way of Madison, Wisconsin, and western Massachusetts, with stints living in other areas across the country and world. When not attending a public meeting or trying to figure out what a PID is, Alexander enjoys skiing, reading and watching the Celtics.