Response To Sex Assault Claim Prompts New Rochelle School Walkout

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Tensions at the biggest public high school in the Hudson Valley reached a boiling point Monday afternoon after headline-grabbing violent incidents and allegations of sexual assault led to a student walkout that was itself marred by violence.

Shortly after the clock struck noon, hundreds of students at New Rochelle High School moved en masse to a spot near the practice fields where a violent incident occurred just days earlier. But the students weren't there to protest the brutal beating that was captured on video and soon went viral on social media. Instead, the students carrying signs that read, "Protect Your Students," "No Means No," "No Never Means Yes" and "NRHS Take Responsibility," said they were there to shine a light on what they say is a pattern of sweeping complaints of sexual assault under the rug.

Students who organized the demonstration told Patch that school administrators' unwillingness to protect victims of sexual violence came to a head in the viral violence that grabbed headlines last week. Students who were standing at the site of the beating while chanting, "Protect our students," said there is more to the story than initially reported.

According to WCBS2's Tony Aiello, the now infamous video of the assault shows a male student kicking and hitting another in retaliation for an alleged sex assault on a female student.

"The planned protest was in response to a social media posting last week by one of our students alleging a sexual assault four years ago at an off-campus location," Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said in a statement released Monday evening. "That allegation led to a physical confrontation between two other students on our campus the day after the social media posting."

Raymond said the walkout was organized by students who wanted to express their support for victims of sexual assault and to express that they feel their voices have not historically been heard. He said about 150 students were part of the demonstration that occurred during a lunch period.

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"Unfortunately, during the demonstration, there were other students who took advantage of the time to engage in multiple altercations that were quickly handled by our security staff," Raymond said. "Fortunately, no one was seriously injured."

The superintendent said that the New Rochelle Police Department was on site to assist in securing the perimeter of the school to ensure that students stayed safely on campus. One student was arrested for misdemeanor assault, according to media reports.

This isn't the first time the school district's approach to reports of sexual violence has caused outrage.

A lawsuit filed with the Westchester County Clerk in March of last year made a series of troubling allegations against New Rochelle school officials, saying their actions and failure to act directly contributed to the rape of a 14-year-old student in January 2020.

A horrific incident in a stairwell at New Rochelle High School, which was captured on security footage, was at the heart of the suit against the school district. The ninth-grade girl, whose family sued the school, was pulled into the stairwell, choked and violently raped by a fellow classmate, according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers representing the school district responded in legal filings by blaming the assault victim. The district's written response to the lawsuit said that the 14-year-old student who was assaulted bears some of the responsibility for the attack.

"There was no negligence, fault or culpable conduct on the part of the defendant, City School District of New Rochelle, causing the damages alleged in the complaint," lawyers for the district wrote in papers filed with the Westchester County Supreme Court. "Furthermore, there was contributory negligence, assumption of risk, contributory fault and/or culpable conduct attributable to the plaintiffs, to the extent of total and/or partial diminution of damages alleged in the complaint."

The leaders of today's protest on campus said they are determined to not let history repeat itself.