Charges against school officials in Livermore
LIVERMORE, Calif. (KTVU) - An after school tutor and two school officials are facing charges of assault and battery, child cruelty, and failure to report child abuse of a teenage foreign exchange student in Livermore.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed the charges Thursday against Brock Van Wey, Eric Dillie, and Randy Taylor. The men are connected to two Livermore charter schools.
Prosecutor charged then-principal of Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory Eric Dillie and then-vice principal Randy Taylor of failing to report the alleged child abuse against a 14-year-old foreign exchange student in January.
Court documents show on Jan. 28 Brock Van Wey, an after school tutor with California Preparatory Academies, was holding a tutoring session on the LVCP campus. Van Wey reportedly accused the teenage student of copying his homework, which embarrassed the boy the prompted him to leave campus. Van Wey allegedly found the boy behind a grocery store and told him to get into a car. When the boy refused, Van Wey is accused of forcibly grabbing the teen and shoving him headfirst into the car so he could be brought back to campus.
The student complained of a cut to his shin and pain to his knees.
Court documents also state the investigation revealed Van Wey informed Taylor of the incident who in turn notified Dillie the next morning. Dillie and Taylor are accused of not contacting the student to determine his welfare and failing to report the abuse to Child Protective Service or police. The men are also accused of laughing and joking about the abuse incident and making inconsistent statements to investigators.
Dillie, who is currently the principal at Livermore Valley Charter School, was placed on administrative leave. Randy, who was prompted to principal of Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory, resigned from the position on Sunday.
Dr. Lynn Lysko, CEO of Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, oversees the charter schools. She said she understands a different story of what happened and defended the actions of the two school officials.
“I never got any sense that there was injury,” she said.
Lysko, who was appointed CEO in March 2016, said she launched her own investigation into the incident when she came on board. She found out the 14-year-old student had left campus and put himself in danger. The adults stepped in and took him to a safe location so he could be returned to his host family. She said at the time, there was no indication from police there was any criminal wrongdoing.
“They did everything that should have been done,” she said. “They stopped the program; they made sure the student was safe… I’m very happy with my own internal investigation.”
She said she does not understand why criminal charges are being brought forward at this point. She described Dillie as a superb educator who is loved by teachers and students.
“He would never put a student in danger,” she added. “He doesn’t deserve this.”
She also noted that the charter schools are facing a number of allegations of financial mismanagement and said when she stepped in as CEO earlier this year, there were mismanaged resources, but she has made changes and continues to make changes to keep the schools on the right track.