A former Columbia High School student and member of the wrestling team says that the adults charged with protecting students did nothing to stop repeated sexual assault by another student that occurred in 2021 and 2022, despite numerous efforts by the victim to report the abuse and seek help from adults.
The wrestler ultimately left CHS in April 2022 and enrolled in a private school. The wrestler, who asked that The Village Green not use their name, filed reports with the Maplewood Police in 2024. The wrestler said they sought redress from the federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) when the principal did not perform an HIB [Harassment Intimidation Bullying] investigation and a Title IX investigation by the district was finally completed in summer 2023 after apparent delays. The OCR opened an investigation in September 2023.
The student, who is currently attending college out of state, is now reaching out to the media, they say, to seek accountability and help ensure that other students are not harmed.
The student and the student’s mother provided documentation to The Village Green including a timeline of communications with coaches and counsellors while the student was still enrolled at CHS, and recorded conversations with administrators after the student was unenrolled — including with CHS Principal Frank Sanchez, Asst. Supt. of Access & Equity Dr. Kevin Gilbert and Jason Bing, who began work as Superintendent in July 2024. They also provided a police report and a letter from the Office of Civil Rights, as well as the results of the Title IX investigation by Gilbert from 2023.
The student said that their genitals were repeatedly grabbed by their assailant over numerous occasions, and that when they sought help from coaches, the coaches told them not to tell anyone else.
It is unclear if any administrators knew of the abuse while the student was still enrolled at CHS. It is also unclear if the district reported the abuse to police or the NJ Division of Child Protection and Permanency. Village Green has filed an Open Public Records Act — or OPRA — request with Maplewood Township.
The Uniform State Memorandum of Agreement Between Education and Law Enforcement Officials (MOA) describes one area of mandatory reporting as: “Whenever any school employee in the course of his or her employment develops reason to believe that a crime involving sexual penetration or criminal sexual contact has been committed on school grounds, or by or against a student during school operating hours or during school-related functions or activities, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:16-6.3(d) (Article 3.12).”
The coaches are still employed by the district.
Gilbert’s July 26, 2023 letter reporting the results of the district’s Title IX investigation findings stated, “After carefully reviewing all evidence, it is determined that comments and non-consensual touching did occur on multiple occasions which are violations to SOMSD Policy #5751-Title IX Sexual Harassment & Non-Discrimination.” The letter noted that “you also alleged in your complaint that the two wrestling coaches were aware of this harassment and did not act. Because they are employees, I am not at liberty to report on anything in reference to that allegation as it is a personnel issue. As the alleged offender is no longer a student, and thus out of the reach of the Code of Conduct, the district will review the program and supervision thereof.”
In response to a series of questions from Village Green, Bing said he could not comment on this particular matter but did offer the following updates on training:
With a new athletic director, SOMSD has reinforced the importance of strictly adhering to the district’s policy and procedures. Prior to the start of the regular season, the department facilitated a pre-season coaching meeting to discuss coaching expectations and highlight essential coaching requirements that have been mandated by the NJSIAA, specifically Fundamentals of Coaching, Implicit Bias, and “BeNice” Program. Additionally, the Title IX law was discussed utilizing a scenario based framework.
Under this new leadership all coaches are required to submit a certification that confirmed they completed the mandated courses before the start of any athletic season. Looking forward SOMSD athletics will continue to reinforce process and protocols while building a continuous system of learning.
The student rejected that training was sufficient to address the situation, telling The Village Green, “People know what’s right and what’s wrong. It is ridiculous to think that people weren’t trained.”
Village Green asked the student’s mother if the family was seeking legal redress. She said they had spoken to several lawyers but had not signed with anyone at this time. She said that the family was seeking the removal of the coaches, Principal Sanchez and Gilbert — whom they felt did not address their issues or perform investigations in a timely manner — in order to “ensure accountability and some justice.”
The mother said that the student’s “goal has always been to, to whatever extent possible, prevent this from happening to other students.” She also said that in meeting with Bing, he expressed that the case didn’t “fall through the cracks which made us believe there was willful negligence.”
“We’ve gotten a lot of, ‘Sorry this happened to you,’ that type of thing. But very few people have said anything about accountability,” said the mother.
The student, who reported suffering stress and trauma due to the abuse, told Village Green, “I’m trying to find a way to, not necessarily move on, but be able to continue my life. I’m now out of that environment, which is obviously helpful, but every time when I go to an adult and nothing is done, it does make me upset and it hurts a little more. How many adults do you have to go to? I think at one point, we counted, it was like six adults, and that was before we went to the police.”
“We talked to a lot of adults, we talked to a lot of people who are supposed to defend me, protect me. And it’s confusing to me,” said the student. “They’re supposed to protect me and defend me from people trying to hurt me and people attempting to assault me. And they didn’t do that.”
This story was updated on February 12, 2025 to note that The Village Green has filed an Open Public Records Act request with Maplewood Township. The article has also been edited for clarity.
