The parents of a 14-year-old girl are suing the Department of Education, saying administrators failed to tell them her teacher was a sexual predator — even as their daughter, who later revealed she was also a victim, was struggling in school because of the abuse.
It was not until November 2013, a month after finding out that Adiyemi Prowell was removed from the public school Renaissance Leadership Academy for assaulting a classmate, that the girl, identified under the pseudonym “Abby” in the filing, told her parents she had been abused.
Abby started crying and revealed that “Prowell had been inappropriately touching her starting when she was an 11-year-old sixth-grader,” the suit says.
Because Abby saw how her peers at the Harlem middle school gossiped about another victim of Prowell’s, she begged her parents not to tell anyone.
Instead they waited for the school to “inform parents” and “provide some guidance and assistance for students and families,” but the administration stayed silent, according to the suit. Given Abby’s “embarrassment and shame,” her parents also kept quiet — until March 2014, when they asked to change schools because Abby was suffering academically.
But administrators reacted coldly, still not revealing Prowell had allegedly abused five other students, nor offering the family counseling, according to their Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
It was only when the parents went to the police and the Manhattan district attorney that they learned Prowell, 29, had been accused of preying on a total of six victims including their daughter.
He pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault in the spring and his sentencing is scheduled for December. He is expected to get off without any jail time, although he will be have to register as a sex offender, the DA’s office told Abby’s family.
Prowell, of Midwood, Brooklyn, is free on bail. Abby was the youngest victim, according to court papers.
Abby’s family is suing for unspecified damages.
DOE reps did not return requests for comment. From a Law Department spokesman: “We will review these troubling allegations.”