Teh One Who Knocks
02-11-2012, 02:05 PM
By Mike Brownlee - Southwest Iowa News
MONDAMIN – The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office is close to finishing an investigation into an alleged depantsing incident involving the principal at West Harrison High School.
Callie Merriman, 15, has accused principal Mike Loftin of pulling her pants down to her knees in front of fellow students.
Sheriff Patrick Sears confirmed he has spoken with both Merriman and Loftin and he expects the investigation to wrap up in the next few days.
The school asked authorities to investigate, Sears said.
Merriman is a guard on the girls basketball team. Loftin, coaches the varsity squad. The team was about to board a bus for a game when it happened, she said.
Merriman was wearing warm-up pants but had forgotten her shorts at home that day. She had gone home to grab them, but they were still in her purse when she and some teammates left the girls locker room.
“When I came out, I was standing by the boys locker room. We were just standing there, and he was talking and I guess he meant it as a joke and just yanked at my warm-up pants,” Callie said. “I screamed, ‘I’m not wearing any pants underneath!’”
The warm-up pants went down to her knees. Callie went to the ground immediately to try to hide her underwear and pulled her pants back up.
“I felt really shocked. Embarrassed. I was real humiliated because all the boys were behind me,” she said.
Repeated attempts to reach Loftin on Thursday were unsuccessful.
West Harrison Superintendent Joel Foster declined to say whether Loftin was still employed or had been suspended, describing the incident as a personnel matter.
Media outlets reported West Harrison students said they’ve been told not to talk about the incident and that websites with news reports of the incident have been blocked. Foster said the school has not threatened disciplinary action for talking about the incident.
“We’ve asked them not to disrupt the learning environment,” Foster said. “We do have the right to block content that disrupts our learning environment,” he said of the websites.
Asked about Merriman’s comment that Loftin is, “not allowed to come back ... until I’m, like, comfortable with him coming back. Or they are not going to let him come back,” Foster again stated it was a personnel matter and declined to comment.
Friday morning Foster issued a statement, which read in part:
“On Saturday, Jan. 21 it was brought to my attention that there might have been an incident between a staff member and a student on Friday evening, Jan. 20. I immediately began investigating this incident and the West Harrison Community Schools responded to the allegations in an appropriate manner.”
Jonna Wyant, Merriman’s mother, said Loftin pulled Callie’s pants down in front of both the girls and boys teams.
“There are a lot of witnesses,” she said.
Attempts to reach possible witnesses Thursday were unsuccessful. Along with phone messages that went unreturned, one mother who answered declined to comment.
MONDAMIN – The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office is close to finishing an investigation into an alleged depantsing incident involving the principal at West Harrison High School.
Callie Merriman, 15, has accused principal Mike Loftin of pulling her pants down to her knees in front of fellow students.
Sheriff Patrick Sears confirmed he has spoken with both Merriman and Loftin and he expects the investigation to wrap up in the next few days.
The school asked authorities to investigate, Sears said.
Merriman is a guard on the girls basketball team. Loftin, coaches the varsity squad. The team was about to board a bus for a game when it happened, she said.
Merriman was wearing warm-up pants but had forgotten her shorts at home that day. She had gone home to grab them, but they were still in her purse when she and some teammates left the girls locker room.
“When I came out, I was standing by the boys locker room. We were just standing there, and he was talking and I guess he meant it as a joke and just yanked at my warm-up pants,” Callie said. “I screamed, ‘I’m not wearing any pants underneath!’”
The warm-up pants went down to her knees. Callie went to the ground immediately to try to hide her underwear and pulled her pants back up.
“I felt really shocked. Embarrassed. I was real humiliated because all the boys were behind me,” she said.
Repeated attempts to reach Loftin on Thursday were unsuccessful.
West Harrison Superintendent Joel Foster declined to say whether Loftin was still employed or had been suspended, describing the incident as a personnel matter.
Media outlets reported West Harrison students said they’ve been told not to talk about the incident and that websites with news reports of the incident have been blocked. Foster said the school has not threatened disciplinary action for talking about the incident.
“We’ve asked them not to disrupt the learning environment,” Foster said. “We do have the right to block content that disrupts our learning environment,” he said of the websites.
Asked about Merriman’s comment that Loftin is, “not allowed to come back ... until I’m, like, comfortable with him coming back. Or they are not going to let him come back,” Foster again stated it was a personnel matter and declined to comment.
Friday morning Foster issued a statement, which read in part:
“On Saturday, Jan. 21 it was brought to my attention that there might have been an incident between a staff member and a student on Friday evening, Jan. 20. I immediately began investigating this incident and the West Harrison Community Schools responded to the allegations in an appropriate manner.”
Jonna Wyant, Merriman’s mother, said Loftin pulled Callie’s pants down in front of both the girls and boys teams.
“There are a lot of witnesses,” she said.
Attempts to reach possible witnesses Thursday were unsuccessful. Along with phone messages that went unreturned, one mother who answered declined to comment.