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An 18-year-old is facing charges after allegedly assaulting a 14-year-old student at school last week.
Parents held a protest Tuesday outside the superintendent’s office calling for student safety and accountability at Wiscasset’s schools.
The alleged assault happened on May 19 at Wiscasset Middle High School during a gym class where middle school and high school students were together, which is not supposed to happen.
The students were playing 3-on-3 basketball against each other for a while, with no adults in the room.
It’s unclear what led to the incident, but the game ended when the 18-year-old student put his hands on the 14-year-old student.
The boy’s parents claim the school downplayed the incident.
“I went up to him to check out what had happened and his whole neck was covered in strangulation marks. I asked him what had happened and that’s when I discovered it was an 18-year-old student that had been permitted into his gym class,” said Ashley James, the younger student’s mother.
The school handled the alleged assault internally and didn’t call the police.
But after finding out what had happened, the 14-year-old student’s parents called the police.
The Wiscasset police chief said the 18-year-old was arrested the following day at his house and charged with aggravated assault.
He was also suspended from school.
The 14-year-old student’s parents said their son is OK but still shaken up.
“He’s always been excited to go to school, he gets there early, he’s a good student, a good athlete and now he seems a little quieter,” his father, Scott James, said.
Wiscasset Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Andersson told CBS 13: “This has been an issue at the middle high school over the past couple of years. A new principal will start July 1 and has 21 years of experience working with school safety issues.”
The police chief said the 18-year-old’s bail conditions allow him to return to school if the suspension is lifted, but that is unlikely to happen before the end of the school year.
A school resource officer is usually at the school but has been on medical leave. The officer who fills in occasionally wasn’t in the school the day of the alleged assault.
A court date is scheduled for the 18-year-old on June 10.