Family calls for superintendent’s dismissal regarding handling of sexual harassment allegations

This week, a family spoke with 47 ABC and called for the termination of Superintendent Robert Fulton for what they say was poor handling of sexual harassment charges made by their daughter and other girls at the school in 2015.

Theresa Collins was a junior at Cape Henlopen in 2015 when the alleged incident occured.  The incident happened on April 22, 2015, and Theresa remembers it well.

"I came into the theater, end of the day because I knew my fellow classmates would be working on a specific dance in the play."

Theresa says she was wearing her mom's acid washed jeans to school, which caught the attention of her alleged aggressor.

"And he said where are they from, can I see the tag, and reached down the back of my pants," said Theresa.   "I was embarrassed.  As a 17-year old no one had ever touched me before."

Theresa says she felt dirty and embarrassed by the incident.  But says she was told by officials at Cape that things would be handled.

"They just assured my parents and I that it would be taken care of," says Theresa.

On October 14, Theresa claims she saw the man again, in the school parking lot as a school employee

"I felt unsafe.  I immediately got in my car and cried," Theresa recalled.

According to lengthy notes kept by Ginny over the years, the aggressor was spotted on school property an additional three times, and as recently as this March.

A cause for concern for the Collins' youngest child who is currently enrolled at Cape.

According to the Mandatory Report Law in Delaware, the incidents filed by Collins and Payne should have gone to Troop 7 in Lewes.

But when Ginny and Theresa went to the station in March of this year, they were allegedly told by officials at Troop 7 that investigators had never received the reports because the incident in question did not rise to the level of the mandatory school report law.

The Collins' also say the School Resource Officer at Cape told them there were no records of Theresa's complaints.

"We were told by the School Resource Officer that he could not find any incident report on my daughter, or on the other girl," said Ginny.  "Their incident reports vanished."

At a board meeting on June 28 of this year, Ginny says she attempted again to get the superintendent to answer why her daughter's aggressor continued to be employed by the school.

Ginny says she's frustrated and prepared to do what is necessary to protect her children and others who may come into contact with the man who allegedly violated her daughter.

We received the following statement from Superintendent Fulton, which read:

"All allegations of this nature are treated seriously by the Cape Henlopen School District because the safety of our students is our most important responsibility.

"Please know that all concerns shared with the district by the family were thoroughly investigated by the administrative team at Cape Henlopen High school in 2015.  In addition to our internal investigation, we reported the alleged incident to the Delaware State Police, School Resource Officer (SRO) and asked that he review all information regarding the allegations.

"Since the time of the alleged incident in 2015, the family has had the ability to press charges."

We spoke with Ginny Friday afternoon, who says the family has gotten conflicting information from the Department of Education and Attorney General's office as to what to do next.

She says the family is taking things step by step, and that may ultimately include filing charges.