Next week, all Park City School District employees will receive training in how to report suspected abuse and neglect involving minors. Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson, Summit County Sheriff Justin Martinez and Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter will conduct the in-person, interactive training themselves.
Olson called the training the first order of business as her office investigates the school district for multiple cases of failure to report suspected abuse, some of those going back years.
The next phase of the investigation will involve a review of each of those cases to determine what went wrong.
“In 2022, we are at a point as a society where we no longer put institutions ahead of children," Olson said. "And we are able to look at the tragedies of the Catholic Church, of the Boy Scouts of America, of the Michigan gymnastics team, of the Penn State football scandal, and say that we have learned something and we have moved past protection of institutions.”
State law requires school district employees to report suspected cases of abuse and neglect. Olson said she asked district lawyer Joan Andrews for a copy of the district’s abuse reporting training several weeks ago and Andrews agreed to provide one, but has not done so yet.
On March 21 Olson charged the school district with three misdemeanor counts of failing to report abuse. A pre-trial conference has been set for May 17 in Summit County Justice Court. Schools Superintendent Jill Gildea could appear in court as the district’s top executive, or another executive could be appointed to do so.
The district did not respond to request for comment about who would appear in court and whether it would fulfill Olson’s request for a copy of the training materials the district has been using.
