FACTORYVILLE, Pa. — The principal of the Lackawanna Trail Junior-Senior High School in Wyoming County is on paid leave and facing a felony charge that he failed to report an allegation of sexual contact between a teacher and student.
State police at Tunkhannock said that Mark Patrick Murphy, PhD, was required by state law to forward such allegations to ChildLine, a clearinghouse that accepts child abuse and well-being concerns and sends information to the appropriate investigative agency.
When it came to a specific allegation of inappropriate student/teacher contact at the school, troopers charged that Murphy kept silent.
ChildLine had no record of Murphy, 42, making that report, state police said. Neither did Wyoming County Children and Youth Services.
"This case is about an obligation of a mandatory reporter to report any allegations," said Wyoming County District Attorney Joe Peters, who approved charging Murphy this week with a felony count of failure to report or refer.
Lackawanna Trail School District Superintendent Matthew Rakauskas said he put Murphy on paid leave Aug. 27, soon after state police visited the high school with a search warrant. Murphy, who has been with the district for 11 years, receives an annual salary of $107,443.
Since August, Rakauskas and the rest of the administrative team have assumed Murphy's responsibilities.
"It has truly been a team effort," Rakauskas said.
A message left for a state police spokesman was not returned.
Attempts to reach Murphy were not immediately successful. Frank William Nocito, his attorney, declined to comment on a pending case.
Peters declined to comment on the case's underlying claim of sexual contact between a teacher and a student, though he said authorities have not filed criminal charges "to date." Rakauskas said that no teachers are on leave because of the allegation.
The state police were informed of the alleged student/teacher contact during a phone call early this year from a concerned parent, according to a criminal complaint filed by Trooper Thomas Weaver.
During Weaver's investigation, he learned several teachers reported the allegation to Murphy, who in turn told them not to make a ChildLine report.
"It was reported Murphy had yelled at one teacher for saying she was going to (ChildLine) it, and he informed her it would ruin the teacher's life," wrote Weaver.
Murphy would look into it himself, he reportedly told the concerned teacher.
When incidents were reported, Murphy interviewed teachers, students and parents and stored his notes in his office closet, state police said. Authorities took 53 notebooks and his computer while serving a search warrant in August.
Peters said that it is good Murphy investigated, but he still had an obligation to make a ChildLine report, he said.
"He did not do one of the most important things," Peters said.
Magisterial District Judge David K Plummer arraigned Murphy on Tuesday and released him on $10,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled Oct. 15.
