An incident at Fort Vancouver High School that was reported to police on Oct. 12 as a “possible sexual contact between students in a locker room” has led to two different emails of explanation this week from school administration to Fort Vancouver families and staff.
In between those two emails, a walk-out was planned by a number of students disappointed with the school’s handling of the incident. While the second email, sent Thursday morning, did provide more information, a walk-out occurred Thursday afternoon.
Clark County Today has received a statement from the Vancouver Police Department and has both letters.
“On October 12th, Vancouver Police were contacted by Ft. Vancouver High School security personnel regarding possible sexual contact between students in a locker room. The Vancouver Police Department responded and is investigating. Nothing additional is being released at this time,” VPD released.
On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the school sent an email to students, families, and staff.
“We are sorry to share that we will not be able to play our remaining Varsity Football games this season.
“This was not an easy decision, but the safety of our athletes is our top priority. Due to a number of player injuries and limited player availability, we no longer have enough players for our team to safely compete at the varsity level.”
Reports online suggest that many students were disappointed in that initial email because it did not address the reason the varsity football team had limited player availability.
On Thursday morning, the school administration sent out a more detailed email.
“We want to follow up on our recent message about the cancellation of our remaining varsity football games and provide some additional context about that decision.
“Last week, we became aware of serious allegations of inappropriate behavior involving members of our varsity football team. We immediately reported these concerns to law enforcement, began our own internal investigation, and put safety measures in place to protect those who reported the incident.
“As we previously shared, the decision to cancel the remainder of the varsity football season was due to a combination of injuries and player availability. At the time of that message, we were still in the early stages of working with law enforcement and determining the appropriate next steps in our investigation.
“As more information was shared with us, we determined that bringing in an independent, outside investigator would be the best way to objectively determine what happened, the full extent of any misconduct, and the best next steps as a result.
“We understand how concerning allegations of this nature are for our school community. Student safety and well-being remain our highest priority, and we take these reports very seriously.
“Because this matter involves both students and an ongoing investigation, we cannot share additional details due to both privacy laws and out of respect for the privacy and dignity of all those involved.
“Please know that we are committed to a thorough and fair process and will take all appropriate next steps based on the findings.”
A message was left with Vancouver Public Schools for comment. That message was not returned by the time of publication of this story. If VPS comments, Clark County Today will update this story.
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