"In my talking with the principal (Andrew Yoxsimer) and the counselor (Susan Nunes), when the boy first came to the counselor on this first incident, there was no indication of any sexual, reportable type of incident shared with the counselor or with the teacher (Nancy Bedrow) and so there was nothing for them to report," Dugan said.
Dugan said there is a "difference of opinion" in what the lawyers say in a federal lawsuit filed by the student’s mother that deals with the alleged attacks and what the school district believes actually happened.
"That's the difference," Dugan said. "The lawyer says that the boy did share he was first sexually assaulted and we're saying no, he didn't."
But Thomas Beko, the lawyer for the mother of the student who was attacked, said the district failed to follow up on the first complaint, which led to the alleged second attack.
"They neglected to respond to his complaints," Beko said, explaining why the district was named in the suit.
The lawsuit names "failure to train" as a cause of action.
"The district has an obligation to ensure that when they have a complaint from students that they're properly followed up on and they were not," he said. "I worked on another suit in the same kind of situation where they have notice of allegations of a student that has been abused and they just don't have any training to identify those situations to determine if in fact (abuse has occurred)."
Dugan said the alleged attacker was brought in and dealt with immediately.
"The police became involved," Dugan said. "That followed the protocol that should have been followed."
Dugan said the level of supervision of special-needs students in Sparks Middle School — or any other Washoe County school — varies based on the "severity" of students' disabilities.
"Some schools don't have any type of special supervision because they don't need it and there are others that do. It's a wide range on this particular one," Dugan said.
Dugan deferred comment on supervision at Sparks Middle School to Principal Yoxsimer, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
"But I do not believe these were students that require one-on-one supervision," Dugan said.
Dugan said the counselor followed the district's policy regarding the reporting of an offense against a student.
"Counselors daily have students coming in with concerns about kids picking on them and harassing them and that's what this was and those are not reported offenses," he said. "Those are day-to-day, how to get along with others issues that teachers and counselors deal with continually."
The student who claimed he was harassed had come to the counselor many times before with similar problems, Dugan said.
"So it comes down to who you believe and I know this counselor," he said. "She's been a counselor for a number of years. If the boy had shared with her something she needed to report, she would have done so, in my opinion."
He said the first incident with the student could have been a sexual assault, but added that was not what the boy reported.
"I think for all students schools are probably the safest place to be, but that doesn't mean we don't have issues," Dugan said. "You put kids together and there's always the potential for problems. The question is, does this school respond appropriately and try to put in reasonable rules and to protect the students? And I think, in fact, we do."
Dugan said the school district will wait and "let the legal system take its course."
The suit seeks more than $100,000 in damages.
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