Principal of a Catholic school in the Kansas City area suspended during investigation

Susan Martin, principal of St. John LaLande Catholic School in Blue Springs, has been suspended while the state investigates allegations reported to the Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline and the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services.

A parent who wrote one of three such reports said the allegations did not involve physical or sexual abuse by Martin himself, but rather persistent, severe physical bullying that had not been addressed by school administrators throughout the year.

This mother, whose sixth-grader will attend a different school after spring break on Tuesday, said she eventually filed a complaint with the state because “I don’t believe they are protecting the children and I don’t believe they took the steps recommended by the state. Our plan was to stay with our faith family, but we can’t do that.”

Although the school obviously knows who she is, she does not want to use her name “because I know the power the Catholic Church has” to retaliate against those who report misconduct.

Martin was not solely to blame, she said. “I called the priest eleven times and he never called back. Susan says, ‘Father is too busy for this.'”

It is Father Sean McCaffery, pastor of St. John’s, who announced Martin’s suspension in a letter to the parish just before Easter. “I am writing to inform you of recent developments in our school administration,” he wrote.

“On Monday, March 25, a report was submitted to the Department of Children and Families prompting an investigation, McCaffery’s letter states. As a precautionary measure, our principal, Ms. Susan Martin, has been placed on leave pending the completion of this investigation. Please be assured that the safety and well-being of our students remains our highest priority and we are committed to fully cooperating with the investigation.”

The letter states, “Mr. Joe Monachino will assist with administrative duties.” Monachino resigned from his post as principal of Pius X High School last year. “As we navigate through this situation, I will keep you updated on any developments that I am permitted to share. In the event of an extended absence, I will keep you updated on our school leadership arrangements.”

Neither Martin nor McCaffery responded to a message seeking comment on the investigation.

“They dismissed it as an accident”

Last summer I wrote about the expulsion of a student due to disagreements between the new pastor, McCaffery, and the child’s parents.

Patrick R. Miller, corporate counsel for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said in an interview Friday that he could not say much more than what was in McCaffery’s letter, except to reiterate that “the safety of children is our top priority.”

“We welcome the investigation,” he said, and “we must trust that the state will do a good job.”

This is Martin’s third year at St. John’s. Previously, she served as principal at St. Gregory Barbarigo Catholic School in Maryville, Missouri.

The same parent who filed one of the complaints with the state told me that three other families—not the same three who reported Martin to Child Protective Services—had left the school this year because of similar problems.

Her son was first bullied in September, she said, when two other boys threw him against a bookshelf in a classroom where no teacher was present. He hit his head and bled, she said, but “they dismissed it as an accident” after one of the boys responsible reported it to the school nurse and said he didn’t know how it happened.

Only other students, who had realized that it was not an accident and told their parents about it, informed the boy’s mother about the true incident.

Since then, she said, her son has been threatened to keep quiet about this and a series of other attacks. On one occasion, for example, he came home with his chest black and blue.

“They beat me up” at St. John LaLande

“Susan knows all this. She says, ‘We can’t prove it. It’s just hearsay.'” On another occasion, the woman said, the same boys threatened to beat her son if he didn’t watch a video of star rapper Drake’s penis, which he did.

The last straw, she said, was when her son told her, “I don’t want to go back to that building” and “I don’t like myself anymore. I do things I shouldn’t do and they beat me up when I don’t.” He had also been searching for “funny” suicide memes in response to the situation, and of course that scared her.

Another student was repeatedly pushed into a locker, she said, and a third had the bathroom door kicked in.

“Nothing has been done” in response to these problems, she said. “In my profession, I am required to report myself, so if the Catholic Church does not do something about it…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, and now her son will not finish the year at St. John’s.

“He’s relieved.” But she’s sad and angry that things have come to this, as any parent would be. “We used to have a wonderful school.”

I would just like to add that keeping children safe is not just about taking care of them or having the right policies on paper.

Bullies of all ages are deceitful, or they would not get away with it. But this is not 1950, and no school official, whether with or without a collar, can afford to ignore how deadly serious the problem of bullying can be.