Attorney: North Andover Sex Assault Policy 'Went Much Too Far'

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover High School administrators "went much too far" when they asked victims of sexual assault to sign safety action plans that threatened them with discipline if they had contact with their attacker, according to an outside review of the school district's policies. Jeff Sankey , an attorney hired by the school system in March to conduct the review, said the school's written policies were sound, but the safety plans punished victims and threatened First Amendment rights. The school district had already sunspende dthe use of the plans last month, pending the outcome of Sankey's review.

"Based on my assessment of the law, it is my recommendation that North Andover High School discontinue its practice of requiring alleged victims to sign interim safety plans which restrict their communications and movement, with potential disciplinary action for violations of the plan," the report concluded.

The school committee acknowledged receipt of Sankey's report and briefly summarized his findings at their meeting Thursday night. Chairwoman Holly Vietzke-Lynch did not say whether the district would follow the recommendation to do away with the safety plans. Superintendent Gregg Gilligan victims' signing of the plans in the future would be "strictly voluntarily" and future plans would not include language threatening victims with disciplinary action.

The safety plans came to light last month after a student at the school was arrested and charged with rape in New Hampshire. Eliezer Tuttle, 18, was charged last month with twice raping a girl in New Hampshire on February 17. Since then, at least three students at North Andover High have said they too were assaulted by Tuttle. Tuttle's parents have denied the allegations against their son.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, the mother of one of Tuttle's accusers said she was forced to move her family from town. Tuttle was never charged in the incident and allowed to continue attending school and join sports teams.

The woman brought her concerns about her daughter having to see her alleged attacker every day to school officials, but "I was ignored.

"How many girls does it take?" she said.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).