‘Sweep it under the rug’: Mother says San Angelo ISD failed to act on harassment claims

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — A San Angelo mother has filed a federal Title IX complaint against Central High School and the San Angelo Independent School District, alleging administrators failed to investigate repeated sexual harassment of her daughter and instead mishandled the situation when her daughter’s boyfriend intervened.

Amber Schornstein spoke with CVHP to share her family’s story and discuss their current experiences regarding how Central High School and the school district have been handling ongoing incidents of sexual harassment involving her daughter and another female student.

According to Amber Schornstein, her daughter — a member of the Air Force Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (AFJROTC) and a survivor of sexual assault — has been inappropriately touched in her “private areas” by a female freshman in the same program while being hugged. Schornstein said her daughter has repeatedly asked the student to stop since the beginning of the school year.

“She’s been telling this student to stop since the first week of school,” Schornstein said. “Her friends have told her to stop. Her boyfriend has told her to stop. But it just kept happening.”

Schornstein said her daughter does not like to be touched at all due to her past trauma. She also noted that the AFJROTC program prohibits public displays of affection while in uniform.

“My daughter has told her multiple times that she does not wish to be touched, not to touch her in uniform, not to touch her out of uniform, and to stop touching her private spaces,” said Schornstein.

The official handbook for AFJROTC in chapter 6, labeled Conduct & Behavior of Cadets, states the following:

“Cadets will not be allowed to show PDA with each other or anyone else, anytime or anywhere on campus while in uniform, in Powell Hall or at JROTC functions. NO EXCEPTIONS!”

The situation escalated when the daughter’s boyfriend intervened on Sept. 10, allegedly removing the other student’s arm after she touched the girl in uniform. Schornstein said that that night, the other student’s mom messaged her on Facebook saying she needed to get in contact with the boyfriend’s parents because he “manhandled” and called her child names when he removed her from touching Schornstein’s daughter.

Schornstein then asked her daughter about the situation. She said her daughter told her that the female student came up to her that day and hugged her while she was in uniform, and she shut down. She told her mother that she’s tired of being touched and tired of people touching her when she doesn’t want to be touched.

On Sept. 11, the other student’s mother went to Central High School to report the actions of Schornstein’s daughter’s boyfriend, Schornstein said.

Schornstein said Assistant Principal Mickey Russell reviewed security footage and later told the other student’s mother that the boyfriend had acted inappropriately. However, Schornstein stated that under Texas law, her daughter’s boyfriend was within his rights to intervene through what is considered “simple removal,” as long as no aggression was used. She said Russell described the boyfriend’s actions as having “nicely” grabbed the other student. According to Schornstein, he was simply removing the student’s arm from her daughter’s body.

“Just a simple removal, nothing more, that’s what the cameras showed,” said Schornstein.

Schornstein said Russell focused only on that single incident and dismissed her daughter’s reports of the ongoing harassment. She said he also intimidated the boyfriend during questioning.

“He told him, ‘let’s see what a judge thinks about that,’” Schornstein said. “That’s another Title IX violation, intimidating a student.”

When Schornstein picked up her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend from school, they told her they had been called to the office. They then shared that the boyfriend had been subjected to intimidation.

Schornstein said she then went up to the school on Sept. 12 and demanded to talk to Mr. Russell. She said he continued to “sweep it under the rug and beat around the bush that my daughter was sexually harassed by another student.” She said he focused solely on the activities that happened on Sept. 11 and no activities prior, even though her daughter had cried out that she had been sexually harassed by a student. She claims that it is another Title IX violation.

“So, I get there and I tell him point-blank that this is not going to be happening like this,” said Schornstein. “This is not the way the code of conduct or the student handbook is written. I’ve already been through them. I’ve documented every violation, on both sides, which there aren’t any for my daughter and her boyfriend, due to Texas law.”

Schornstein said she was frustrated and told him that she wanted an investigation done into her daughter’s sexual harassment. She said he repeatedly told her that he would not investigate it because of the incident that happened on Sept. 10.

“So, I talked to my daughter’s principal, and I told my daughter’s principal what I wanted done,” said Schornstein. “I sent him an email explaining again what I wanted done, with screenshots that I had captured earlier in the morning that went against the code of conduct and the student handbook.”

According to Schornstein, the principal later emailed her, stating that the other student had been required to sign a document agreeing to stay away from Schornstein’s daughter. However, Schornstein said that neither she nor her daughter was informed about this decision.

“I was never notified of this, and as far as I know, no investigation, which is required by the student handbook and the code of conduct by the Title IV law, has still not been done,” said Schornstein. “So, I went to the district.”

Schornstein told CVHP that when she went to the school district’s administration building to inform them about the situation, she was told that she needed to take it up with the school her child attends.

Schornstein said she emphasized that the matter needed to be addressed at the district level because it involved an assistant principal. She added that she did not receive proper assistance and felt like she “was wasting her day sitting there.”

Schornstein said she would later seek help regarding the situation from the San Angelo Police Department (SAPD). SAPD assisted her in understanding the next steps if she believed the district and school were not complying with state laws, advising her to contact the Texas Education Agency. When she called the TEA, they directed her to the U.S. Department of Education to file a Title IX complaint.

Schornstein told CVHP that she filed a Title IX complaint against Central High School and San Angelo ISD.

CVHP reached out to SAISD for comment about the situation. SAISD provided the following statement:

“Thank you for reaching out. Our priority is supporting all students in a safe and respectful environment. The district does not comment on pending reviews or investigations. We appreciate your understanding.”