North Andover Schools Drafting Sex Assault Policy

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The North Andover School Committee is expected to model a sexual assault policy on the 44-page policy currently used by Melrose Public Schools. Despite a state law requiring public school systems to have written sexual assault policies, the town has yet to adopt one. Adopting such a policy has taken on a new sense of urgency since last month's arrest of a North Andover High School student which brought to light the school system's controversial use of safety plans.

According to Massachusetts General Law Title 12, Chapter 71 Section 2c, "Each school district in the commonwealth, subject to appropriation, shall implement a specific policy and discipline code to address teen dating violence in public schools."

A group of North Andover High School students that met with state Sen. Diana Dizoglio (D-Methuen) and state Reps. Tram Nguyen (D-Andover), and Christina Minicucci (D-North Andover) earlier this month plans to present the Melrose policy to the North Andover School Committee as a model, according to Julie Tschirhart, one of the students at the meeting.

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.

At a school committee meeting on March 28, North Andover Superintendent Glenn Gilligan said the school system is no longer using the safety plans that limited victims' movements around the school to limit contact with Tuttle or other students who had been accused of sexual assault. The plans called for disciplinary action if the victims had contact with their accused attacker.

North Andover officials have declined to comment on the specific cases, but Gilligan's complete statement at the meeting has been posted on the district's Website.

School officials were first notified that Tuttle had been accused of a sexual assault when a then 15-year-old student at the school went to police and told them Tuttle had raped her in October 2017. Tuttle was never prosecuted in the 2017 case because prosecutors thought the victim was "too fragile to testify."

Then in March of last year, another student was attacked by Tuttle in his car. The victim, according to an affidavit, fought Tuttle off when he forcibly tried to take her clothes off and climbed on top of her. A third victim has also come forward and has said she had to enroll in night school to graduate after meeting the requirements of the plan became too burdensome.

The March 2018 case was continued without a finding until Tuttle's 19th birthday. Such rulings are often given to first-time offenders. While Tuttle effectively admitted that a jury would find him guilty if the case went to trial, the continuation without a finding meant the incident would have been erased from his record had he stayed out of trouble.

School officials asked the victim in that case refused to sign a safety action plan when Tuttle was allowed to return to school. She said she refused when she learned she would face disciplinary action if she violated the stipulations laid out in the plan.

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